Wanted
by djaly
Summary: The sequel to 'Related by NOS and Blood'. Somebody once said that all angels longed for hell - what if Brian's was no different?
1. Prologue

I'm giving it another try! I know, there wwere not much people asking me for a sequel to 'Related by NOS and Blood', but the few are worth it, so, this is the sequel called 'Wanted'.

Have fun reading it and please review on it as much as possible, cause only by reviewing you can critisize my work and tell me what I can do better.......................some feedback would be nice, too!!

If anybody thinks, like, 'hey, don't I already know this prologue?' Yes, it's the epilogue from 'Related by NOS and Blood', so the sequel takes place directly after that story, therefore, I recommand to read 'Related by NOS and Blood' first, otherwise, the following story will be one hell to understand!

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of The Fast and the Furious or 2 Fast 2 Furious. I do also not own the storylines of the movies. Nevertheless, this story is mine, the idea belongs to me. Characters that belong to me are: Lilliana/Lilly O'Conner, Shane/Crash, Mike Anders, Alexander/Alex Praca, Diego Hernandez, Marco Merisi, Thomas, Will, Raymond/Spike, Nicolas/Nico, Jenyza/Sugar, Julian/Mouse, Antony/Tony, Marisa/Risa, Claire/Lola, Verena/V, Nathalie Rigot, Melissa/Lissa Anders, Victor/Vic Samos, Shonna Fergis, Alysson, 'Cathy' and Mona.**

**If any of you should ever wonder: the story is set in 2003, so around the time 2 Fast 2 Furious was released in the U.S..**

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**Prologue**

The bell rang.

The doors of the different class rooms opened and pupils filled the halls of Miami Jefferson Highschool. Amongst them was Lilly O'Conner.

Not Lilly Masterson, but Lilly O'Conner.

It was Friday and the last day of school before summer vacation would start.

All pupils were eager to return their books, receive and compare or hide their reports, and to get their year books signed by the others.

Many things had changed since Brian and Roman had a week and a half ago helped to arrest Carter Verone.

One day after all of this had happened, Brian has shown up at MJ High to talk with the principal. The siblings had come up with a story that was not even that far away from the actual truth.

They had said that, back in L.A., Brian had worked as a cop, yet, after having done a job, they had had to hide from the ones he had taken down, therefore, they had gotten a new identity here in Miami.

Lilly's record had already been changed and on her report and underneath her picture in the year book stood her real name. Lilliana O'Conner. Whenever she looked at it, she had to smile. No more hiding, just like Brian had pomised her.

Of course, the entire incidence had caused a spreat fire all over school, thus the girl's popularity had been upped a little……………although she thought that this was only because of Brian. She knew what kind of effect her brother had on women, especially on teenage girls. The blonde did not like it all that much, her friends having a crush on her older brother was somehow embarrassing.

"Hey, girl, come over here!"Lilly heard somebody shout as she stepped outside the building where tables and banks were standing for the pupils to dine at.

The voice belonged to a black senior called Shonna Fergis, the captain of the volleyball team and a good friend of Lilly's.

Shonna was sitting together with several other members of the volleyball, the football and the basketball team and of the cheerleaders at the table. The blonde knew all of them more or less, having talked to them at parties or during the breaks before.

She sat down between Shonna and Alysson, the first one she had talked to when having been new at MJ High.

------Flashback--------

Lilly sat down on the chair the teacher had pointed at. Everybody was staring at her, at 'the new girl from L.A.'. Behind the blonde, there was another girl with hazelnut coloured hair and gray eyes smiling at her.

"Hi, I'm Alysson",she whispered because of the teacher having started to write something down on the blackboard, "you like it so far?"

"Yeah, thank you, just a little nervous",Lilly responded, "I'm Lilly."

"Don't worry, I'll show you around later on. The people are all okay, with a few exceptions, of course",her face changed into a pained expression, "you any good at mathematics?"

"Guys plus shopping equals not very entertaining."

They giggled silently.

"I already like you",Alysson stated.

------End of Flashback--------

"Gimme your book",Alysson said once the blonde had taken place.

While getting the black book out of her bag together with a bottle of Pepsi, Lilly looked around, frowning.

"Lissa not here, yet? So much for being punctual." She handed the book to Alysson. "Don't write anything on the last page. Lissa demanded to have it all on her own."

Lissa, Melissa Anders, was Mike Anders older sister. She was a senior and would go to Yale in autumn. She was also captain of the cheerleaders and the president of Miami Jefferson Highschool. Melissa was, no doubt, the most popular girl at school, always dressed up to a T, her outfit matching each possible occasion. Lilly had made her connection three days after her first day at the new school.

------Flashback--------

Alysson secretly liked Mike and when she walked up to him to ask him if he wanted to go to a dance with her, he made fun of her in front of everybody.

The hurt girl ran with tears in her eyes into the girls' room while Lilly took care of Mike and told him her opinion about him before following Alysson.

In the bathroom, the blonde tried to make her new friend realize that Mike was not worth it, yet, Alysson only said that she wanted him to respect her and, in that situation, Lilly could not think of anything else to advice her friend but this.

"Listen, this might sound harsh but how can you expect him to respect you, if you don't respect yourself. I mean, look at what you let him do to you. You have to stand above those things, Alysson, don't let yourself be pushed around. You gotta ignore such jerks that don't see what great a person you are, that's how you make people respect you."

Suddenly, a voice spoke up behind Lilly.

"She's right." It was Melissa. Finally, Alysson stopped the crying and sobbing so that Melissa could help her fixing her make up and then turned to Lilly, sticking out her hand."Hi, my name's Melissa. Do you already know with whom you're gonna have lunch today?" So Lilly ended up at Melissa's table, where she got to know a few more cheerleaders, a few members of the football and the baseball team and she had already known the people from the volleyball team.

------End of Flashback--------

"Na",Daniela, a junior cheerleader, did a motion with her hand, "you know Lissa. Fashionably late."

The entire group at the table laughed.

"I got a party tonight, you comin'?"Ramon, a senior member of the football team, sitting opposite to her, asked.

"Sure",Lilly shrugged. Ever since the whole 'Verone-incident' had been over, the girl had not gone to the races, yet, feeling uncomfortable around the cars. They made her remember the conclusions she had drawn at Verone's, that cars were like a drug and she was nothing but an addict.

"There",Alysson said, giving the girl a year book, "you gotta sign it for me, or better yet, can you sketch something for me, like, one of these cartoon sketches you always do in the lessons?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm _always_ paying attention",she rolled her eyes innocently, gaining a laugh from the others and their year books to sign them as well. So Lilly took out a black ball point pen to begin with the signing while her year book was going around the table.

Mouse had been the first one to sign hers.

They had exchanged their books to sign them simultaneously. Both of them had flipped them open to where their pictures were and had signed right onto them. Mouse had written "Great time", Lilly "Burns, baby".

Finally, Melissa Anders together with her boyfriend Victor "Vic" Samos arrived at the table, greeting everybody.

"My brother is such a moron!"The brunette exclaimed. "I just saw him in the hall, spitting into one of his _friend's_ year book, saying that his _signature_ would need some time to dry! How can I honestly be related to somebody _that stupid_?! Well, at least he managed to do 10th grade on his second try."

When Lilly had received this information for the first time, she had not really been surprised. Mike Anders had had to repeat 10th grade. So he was seventeen now, therefore, he felt way more important than the other sophomores, yet, he did actually not have people considered _true friends_. The blonde had experienced that the others were merely tolerating him when necessary, except for the few that thought by admiring Mike, they would gain popularity due to him being the captain of the football team. Originally, Vic, Melissa's boyfriend, had been the captain, however, after having had an accident over Christmas last year, he had had to stop playing. Mike's father, being rich and good friends with the principal, had talked the other man into taking his son for the position. His marks would have gotten better over the last semester, he had enthusiasm and team spirit…………….eventually, he had become the captain, although Vic had suggested Mouse for the next captain, him being also seventeen, having great marks and being a great wide receiver. Nonetheless, Mouse had turned this offer down. He had not like the thought of so much responsibility on his shoulders………………….not that Mike was any better.

"Here, sign it",Melissa gave Lilly her year book, "write what perfect a person I am and how much I have impressed you."

"Yes, Lissa",the blonde had just finished signing the last of the other books and was now searching for some free space within the brunette's one. Finally, she found a page that was only covered in lyrics to a quarter.

Doing a comic sketch of herself wearing a cheerleader outfit, Lilly wrote next to it: "Gimme an M, gimme an E, gimme an L…………..and so on, you know the procedure, don't you? Dear Melissa, I want to thank you for the many times you reminded me that not all cheerleaders are the stereotypes they always show in the movies. You are not some stupid spoilt girl, running to her Daddy to buy her everything. You respect yourself. You never give up. You don't date a guy only to gain popularity. You are intelligent and you always manage to look perfect. Thank you also for reminding me that good looks do not always equal superficialty - strange word. You accepted me the way I was, although the entire time complaining that I should join the cheerleaders and make more out of myself. I guess this is your way to show how much you actually care and I want to thank you for that care……………even if it was very annoying at times. Che sera, sera, whatever will be, will be. I wish you all the best for your future at Yale and hope that we'll stay in contact, even when you meet lots of new people at college. Lilly.

P.S.: where did you get that dark green shirt with the white seam? I like it."

She returned the book to Melissa immediatley reading what the blonde had written. A warm smile was tugging at the corners of her mouth after severl seconds.

"You're welcome",she answered, looking at Lilly, "where's yours? Hope the last page is still free, isn't it?"

"Just coming round",Vic told her while signing, then, giving it to his girlfriend.

"You're not to read it until the day of Au revoir",Melissa adviced the girl.

"If you say so." Au revoir was a special tradition at Miami Jefferson High. The first week of the vacation period was homecoming week. All the alumnis would come to play against this year's teams and at the end of the week, there would be a dance. Everybody having been at Au revoir, a dance at the last weekend in the holidays, would be at the Homecoming dance. Au revoir was special in many ways. One had to be invited to get in. The invitations were given out by the seniors, they decided who would be there and who would be left outside. It was called Au revoir because it was the last chance for practically an entire year to spend an evening together, before all of the seniors would leave for college. Lilly had received her invitation from Melissa, with the demand "wear a dress".

Soon after having gotten her book back and some more talk, the bell rang again.

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Literally each pupil's eyes were focused on the clock hanging above the door. Everybody was awaiting the hand to move up to the twelve. Four more minutes and they would be free for three months.

Actually, the class was supposed to be watching a movie about the mass media, but no one was really interested in it, the clock was way more entertaining.

Suddenly, Lilly felt Mouse, who was sitting behind her, kicking lightly against one of the legs of her chair…………….their sign, if one of them wanted to give the other one a message written on a little piece of paper.

Lilly reached back with her left hand that was no longer taped and almost completely healed by now. Feeling the paper in her hand, she closed her fingers around it, bringing it slowly onto her table, where she opened it.

_Drill after?_

Taking the pencil into her right hand, hoping that it would not scratch too loud on the paper, she wrote: _Deal_ and returned the paper to Mouse the way she had gotten it.

The bell rang!

Everybody was jumping up on their seats, papers and pens were flying through the room.

Holidays!

No school for three months!

It was the last Friday on May, so the vacation would start on June 1st.

Lilly would have to work at Tej's, but she did not mind at all. Tej's and the guys' conception of work was very open-minded, so she did not fear having to work the entire time.

Together with Mouse, the blonde left the class room, only to see people in the hall celebrating, too.

"Up o dere?"The boy next to her asked.

"Dere, I've see",she shrugged while they were leaving the school building. Many people were already outside, looking at something standing right on the street in front of the main entrance: Brian, who had gotten his hair cut a few milimetres short a week ago, leaning against the side of the Evo that was now his. The Customs had given the cars to Roman and him, having claimed that they had no longer any use for them. Of course, the GPS had already been built out.

"No Drill, man",Lilly told her friend, "he planning me. Sor."

"Righ'",he responded, "Phoenix mo nigh'?"

"Finite",the blonde nodded,"sa."

She walked over to where her brother was standing, thinking that it was somehow embarrassing to get picked up like that, therefore, she merely said "hi" to Brian while getting onto the passenger's seat.

Her brother also got in, frowning.

"You don't wanna drive?"He had imagined it to be quite impressive on his sister's school mates, if she had driven the Evo away.

"No."

"So",the man breathed out, "how's the report, _junior_?"

"I ain't gonna show you, if you keep on calling me that",Lilly warned him, receiving a chuckle.

"C'mon, let me enjoy this."

"Whatever."

Brian suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Ever since the 'Verone-incidence' had been over, 'whatever' seemed to be his sister's new favourite word.

"Hey, is that Shane in front of us?"He questioned, nodding his head into the direction he was talking about.

"Yeah, driving to Tej's to get _Mika_ done",the girl sighed in frustration. Shane's birthday way in June, therefore, he would turn seventeen in less then three weeks. Due to this date being very close to the last day of school, his parents always made the presents depending on his reports. So, last year, his average had been C, the reason he had not gotten a car on his sixteenth birthday. Now, after Lilly having worked her ass off to help her friend, his average was B. Even though his birthday was still three weaks ahead, he was already allowed to drive around with his car: a second hand Honda S2000.

Lilly was actually quite happy for her friend, yet, after having had to listen to Shane three times telling her what he wanted to be done on _Mika_, she was pretty much annoyed by it.

"_Mika_?"The blonde man laughed. "Oh, well, it's his first car, that's always special. What does he want to be done, anyways?"

"Well, of course, he wants it to be a racer, so we'll go routine on it",the girl shrugged, "NOS system, pimped engine, racing seats, new chrome exhaust with built-in flame thrower, new racer tires 'n chrome rims, new paint job, some changes on the body kit, so, a new front and rear bumper, another rear spoiler, some side skirts, a nice drop to make it a real low-rider, but,"she shook her head no, "in my opinion, he's overdoing it when it comes down to extras. I mean…………I can understand neons and a new dash and if you want to, like, one or two specials nobody else's got, yet, _he _is gone nuts. He wants neons everywhere, two fifteen and two ten inch woofers in his trunk, two amps, and, a twenty-five inch TV. But that's not everything. Crash also wants five inch monitors in his visors, two monitors in his dash, one for the NOS and the other for watching DVDs with the DVD player he wants, next to the three disc CD and mp3 player. I stopped listening when he mentioned a PS2 or an Xbox, I dunno………….that's insane. It's nothing but unnecessary weight in a racer!"

"C'mon",Brian was still laughing, this time because of his sibling's pragmatism, though, "he's seventeen. He just wants something to impress girls with."

"What's that look supposed to mean?"Lilly folded her arms in front of her chest, eying her brother suspiciously.

"What look?"He asked while shifting into another gear.

"The look you've just sent my way when you mentioned Shane wanting to impress girls."

"I did _not_ look at you. _I_ concentrated on the road."

"Since when are there any traffic signs on me, then? So why did you look at me like that?"

"I did. Not. Look at you!"

"Did too!"The girl felt herself getting furious. The moment Brian had looked at her, his eyes had clearly said 'he just wants something to impress _you_', not girls in general. Why was he denying it now?

"Did not!"Brian hated his sister's stubborness, on top of that, she was also on her period, so she was very _agitated_, too.

"Did too!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Argh",the man ran a hand over his short hair. He could have sworn that he would have pulled out some of it, if it had still been long enough! He had _not_ _looked_ at her!

"Just shut up and let me drive. I don't wanna cause any accidents because of you distracting me",so, this was it for Brian. The big brother had spoken!

Lilly merely turned her head to the right side, regarding the sidewalk.

"Whatever."

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If you wonder what Mouse and Lilly are saying:

_Drill after?_ - Drill this afternoon?

_Up o dere?_ - Shall I pick you up or are you there?

_Dere, I've see._ – There, I'll have to see.

_He planning me. Sor._ - He's planning something for me. I'm sorry.

_Righ'. Phoenix mo nigh'?_ - It's alright. The Phoenix tomorrow night?

_Finite. Sa._ - Definitely. See ya.


	2. Wanted: Credits

**Wanted: Credits**

The ride from Lilly's school to Tej's Garage usually lasted about fifteen up to twenty minutes, depending on the traffic. Usually. With Brian as one's driver, it lasted merely five up to ten minutes.

Having arrived at Tej's, Lilly got immediately out of the car, she had still not been saying just one single word to her older sibling after he had made that comment about Shane and _girls_.

Brian left the car as well, locking it with his remote, though, just in case. Even though it was an unwritten law between the racers that stealing another one's car was like high treason, the blonde preferred to be absolutely sure because they were many other people in Miami who did not race and, therefore, did not know the racers' laws. So, he would not even begin to keep his Evo unlocked, risks were just too high that it would get stolen.

The Evo was a great car. Within the few days he had been racing with it, he had already won almost as much as he had made per month sitting in the Nissan. He figured it was this way because of the Evo being still so rare in Miami, Brian could not recall having seen this model ever before on the streets. People just wanted to know whether or not their vehicles were better.

Brian grinned.

_Of course_, he thought, _they're not. I'm King of the Streets. Nobody gets Bullitt down._

Yet, while looking at his little sister taking a chair at the tables the crew was sitting at, he wondered how much more it would take her to get Brian O'Conner – the big brother – down.

Lilly had been acting strangely since she had come back from Verone. The blonde man guessed she was merely still trying to deal with the events somehow, however, she was..................different, in a way. He felt rejected by her. So far, she had turned pretty much each of his offerings down: she did not want to go to the races, she did not want to go with him and the others to the movies, no video and DVD evenings, no going down to the beach, no working together on cars. At first, Brian had thought that the girl had not been interested into doing such activities due to her wanting to undertake something alone with him, but she had refused those, too. The teenager was not really unfriendly or cool, just.................at least, not on purpose. Her new favourite word 'whatever' expressed this new attitude very well. Lilly was _edgy_ and the fact that she was on her period did not make the situation any better at all for Brian.

"So",Brian heard Tej saying once he was close enough to the little group of people. It was the crew aka Tej, Marco, Alex, Diego, Jimmy and Lilly, Shane and Roman who was chewing on a sandwich.

After having grabbed a Pepsi from the cooler standing next to the tables, the blonde took the empty chair next to his friend whereas Lilly was sitting inbetween Tej and Marco.

"How's the reports?"And a wide grin settled on the man's face while the teenagers searched within their schoolbags for the sheets of paper.

Somehow, a strange feeling awoke inside of Brian when he saw his sister handing the paper to Tej. He was used to being the first who got to see her grades, it was some sort of privilege for him.

"Average B",Shane announced proudly, knowing that the crew had promised him to give him the rims and tires he wanted for his new car as a gift........................if his grades were meeting the approval, of course.

"You better be grateful",Lilly told him with played firmness.

"Yeah, yeah",the boy rolled his eyes, obviously not all too happy about being reminded that he had needed her help to receive such results, "so, when can you get started? You already have a list with everything I want, right? It'd b grear, if............."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa",Jimmy waved him off, "ya know how we work it, boy. As much cars at the highest quality as time allows it, alrigh'?"

"We already ordered your parts and they should be amongst the ones we're gonna get from Roderigo within the next days, or so",Alex explained, looking over the teenagers' reports.

"Within the next _days_?"The 16-year-old raised his eyebrows. "Oh, c'mon, I can't wait that long! I thought I'd already be showing up with Mika the day my contest is and that's Tuesday, man!"

"Ey",Tej pointed his index finger at him, "no special treatment here. Customers get treated in the order they come. Now, say thank you cos we're the ones paying for yar most important, ai?"

"Sorry, thank you",he answered, slightly embarrassed, before getting his report back from Marco, "has anybody seen Suki? She wanted to see my grades as well."

"She's in da back, man",Tej told him and watched the boy leave, then, he focused his attention on Lilly, "so, what are we gonna do with Chica, guys? Just check this",he indicated her report which he was still holding in his hands, "mathematics A, spanish A, phyisc ed A, chemistry B...............and so on, damnit girl, ya didna manage to hold yarself back, righ'?" He shook his head no.

"I'd say, yeah",Alex spoke up.

"Yeah",Jimmy nodded.

"Sâ,Marco stated.

"Sí",Diego smiled.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"Lilly eyed the guys carefully, not knowing what had caused their mysterious behaviour.

"Dere ya go",Tej grinned while pulling something out of one pocket of his baggy pants and laying it onto the table.

Brian, Roman and Lilly were regarding it rather confused.

"What is that?"Lilly raised one eyebrow, eying the guys suspiciously while brushing her fingers lightly over the green ribbon being wrapped around the little black box laying in front of her on the table.

"Just some extra for your report",Tej told her, his dark eyes sparkling, "c'mon, open it."

"Why would you guys give me anything for my report?"The girl could not understand her friends' behaviour. She had never received any presents for good marks simply because of her never having wanted any. Lilly did not see a reason in this kind of rewards due to her knowing that she was merely working for herself and not for anybody else concerning the matter of school.

"Why would we _what_?"Alex looked at her as though she would have grown a second head. "Because you deserve it? Never heard of such things like _rewards_?"

"I know what a reward is, Alex",she rolled her eyes, "I just don't see the point in getting one for a report? We never did that."

"Whoa",Tej frowned, "you saying that your bro's against gifts? Yo, Bullitt, what's that shit, man?"

"She would only complain, if I did it, man. You know what she's like",Brian shrugged, taking a sip of his Pepsi, "I's just trying to avoid her wrath."

"Rome",Lilly turned her head into the man's direction, "would you mind smacking him for me?"

"My pleasure",he grinned, smacking the back of Brian's head with his left hand so fast that the blonde could not move out of his reach in time.

"Hey!"He protested, rubbing the spot where he had gotten hit and grinning. "I'm innocent, bro."

"Since when?"His younger sibling rolled her blue eyes. "So, what is this?"She asked, pushing her right index finger slightly against the box lying in front of her on the table.

"Aprirlo, finalmente",Marco nodded his head in anticipation.

"Okay, okay",Lilly lifted her hands in defence, "but be prepared that I may yell at you."

The girl leant back in her chair, picking the black box up with her right hand and putting it onto her lap. Feeling everybody's eyes on her, she merely sighed while beginning to tug at the ends of the ribbon. Having opened it, she removed it neatly before laying it onto the table, then, she opened the box………………..and gasped. Inside of the box, there was a completely new Apple iPod Mini in cyan. This item costed about 250 dollar!

"Are you fucking mad?! That thing is way too expensive as to be a mere gift!"She exclaimed, looking at the guys accusingly, however, she received nothing but bewildered reactions.

"Calm down and say thank you, girl",Tej lifted his bottle of Corona in a manner as though wanting to say 'cheers' and drank.

"This is no fun, Tej!"Putting the box carefully back on the table, so that nothing would happen to the precious iPod Mini. "This is,like……………250 dollar in a box! Damn! I can't keep it, this is too much! It's not that I ain't grateful, guys, I mean…………..this is a very thoughtful gift, it's great, but…….."

"So, no arguing and keep it, Chica!"Jimmy could not believe the girl was abandoning such a present when every other teenager would have cried out for joy!

"But it's just too much",the blonde tried to reason with the men, "you know exactly that I don't want you to spend so much on me! 250 mean fifty for each, this is like………."

"Like less than one per cent of what we win during a night of racing",Marco cut her off, "why can't you just accept that we wanna do you some good, hm? You deserve some good every now and then, it's not like your old bro's taking care of that."

"Hey!"Brian protested again, feeling insulted. He was taking good care of his sister! "I know how I have to do my job, okay? And if _my_ little sister does not want any reward even though she deserves one, I will respect that because I know just as well that she can turn my life into hell within the blink of an eye." The man had emphasized 'my' especially to remind Marco who was in charge. Lilly was his baby, not Marco's, therefore, Brian did not like the Italian judging the way he had decided to raise her.

"Rome?"Lilly used her sweetest and most pleading voice.

"Of course, Kitten",he answered before smacking the back of Brian's head again, earning another protest.

"You have to keep it",Diego grinned, "it's quite usefull whenever you wanna switch off your bro."

"But then, I'd first have to get some music."

"Has already been done",Jimmy also grinned, "we supported you with some of the latest, girl, and if you wanna have anything else, you know what to do."

Lilly ran a hand through her hair, obviously thinking about the guys' present. It was their way to show her just how much they cared. She knew exactly that they would have given her way more, if she had not made them understand months before that she would not accept expensive gifts. 250 dollar was much money, although, for people winning about 20.000 dollar within one night, it did not seem to be so much after all.

_They only wanted to do you something good. Crash is getting his rims and tires paid by them as a gift and those are way more expensive than this iPod. I'd like to know how much time they have spent before coming up with this idea. It is a very thoughtful gift and I can really use it. I would have never bought one for myself. Costs too much, yet, when I think about some of my shoes…………..some have indeed costed more than 300, but they're worth it……………they make my feet and legs look so good! Okay, on the other hand, some of my shoes have also costed not more than fifty bucks - I just love 'Sawgrass Mills Factory Discount' in Sunrise. So, maybe, I should accept. It's not like the guys could use it anyways……………..and I like the colour. Cyan. I've never seen a cyan-coloured iPod Mini before. C'mon, Lilly, give in, make your guys smile._

"Okay",she finally said, turned to her left and hugged Diego due to him being the nearest to her, "thank you." Then, she got up to walk around the table to hug each of the men, saying 'thank you' while doing so. Eventually, Alex, being the last one, pulled her onto his lap.

"That's our girl",he smiled, revealing his white teeth.

"Good",Tej set his bottle of Corona on the table, "now that we've established that",his expression became stern, "back to work. We gotta earn some money!"

A loud chorus of 'c'mon, boss', 'spoiling all the fun, here' and 'fucking work' sounded up, nevertheless, everybody rose from their chairs, heading to their tasks within Tej's Garage.

Having walked away from the tables several yards, Lilly suddenly turned on her heel to get her new iPod Mini, excited to listen to some of the music the guys had downloaded for her. However, she found Brian having already taken it out of its box, eying it thoroughly.

Clearing her throat loudly to gain her brother's attention, the blonde carefully untangled his fingers from the item.

"Mine",she stated firmly as if she was talking to a little child, "not yours. Mine."

"I was just watching",Brian sounded hurt, his lips were forming a tiny pout.

"With your hands?"The girl picked up the black box from the table, knowing that the instruction manual was laying inside of it.

"Hey",Roman grinned smugly, "a man's gotta make sure, ya know?"

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Whatever", and left them sitting at their table.

"_Whatever_?"The black man repeated in confusion. "Yo, man, what up with our girl? She all good?"

"Yeah, just on her period, bro. You'll get used to it, though. Four up to six days every four weeks",Brian shook his head no, taking a sip of Corona, although innerly knowing that his younger sister's new attitude was not only caused by her period, he hoped that things would soon change back to normal.

"How'd you know, bruh?"

"I already got almost five years of practise. Good thing about it is, whenever she's got her red days, she likes to cook and to bake",he grinned, remembering the gratin he had eaten yesterday evening.

"Mind, if I come over some time, dawg?"Both men chuckled

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

About two hours later, Lilly was busy pushing a car whose paint job she had just finished out of the her 'Quarters", together with the help of Marco having refused her to be doing this all by herself. Of course, the blonde knew how to handle a car that way, yet, the guys always demanded that they got to help her with things consisting of 'pure muscle work'. The girl figured they were merely spoiling her like they always did and that she might hurt their feelings by telling them that she did not need their help, however, she appreciated it as long as it would not become too much to bear.

After having navigated the car into the 'red light room', Lilly closed the rooms doors and switched on the red lights within it. Originally, this room had been used for trash, so car parts which could have no longer been used, but after Lilly had become sprayer at Tej's, she had managed to convince him to clean the room and install an arch of red lights into it, so that the cars standing in there would dry faster. Eventually, Tej had realized how much time this safed them......................and time was money.

"Grazie",Lilly smiled at Marco shrugging.

"Perchè?"He asked friendly, returning the smile.

"Just so",together, they went back into the actual 'working area', where each of the other members of the crew seemed to be busy. Diego was screwing on a door with the help of Alex holding it up while Jimmy was working on the engine of another car.

"Hey",Alex said, letting go off the door when Diego told him to do so, "it's already 5:17. When are we gonna eat something? I'm starving."

"You guys didn't have anything, yet?"Lilly frowned. She had expected the guys to have eaten before she had come to Tej's after school.

"No, we're busy here, but I definitely need some, now",Jimmy looked at the others.

"Tell me what you want and I'll get it for you",the girl offered, still feeling the urge to make up for the iPod the men had given her earlier.

"Pizza",Diego and Alex grinned.

"From Antonio's",Jimmy and Marco chorused, also grinning.

"Okay, then",Lilly had to laugh at them, "the usual?"She received a nod from everyone. "I'll go order then, now, I'll be right back", she turned around and was already about to enter the office to make the call, when it occured to her that the others might want to eat something from Antonio's as well. At Tej's Garage, it was always the crew's decision where they would get their food from.

The blonde girl walked out into the sun, entering the area considered Tej's backyard that greeted her with the sight of much naked skin. People were tanning on the loungers, playing around in the pool, some jet-skies were racing, in the distance, she spotted Brian and Roman flirting with some girls....................it was just another ordinary day in the life of Lilliana O'Conner.

"Hey, boss",she addressed Tej sitting on one of the white yard chairs he owned, yelling something into his loudspeaker, obviously to make a guy called 'Greg', who was racing with a jet-ski, win, "you wanna have something from Antonio's?"

"Wait a sec",he smiled at her before turning his attention back to the jet-skis,"_c'mon, man, don't let your man Tej down, now, dawg! You're the reason I lose lotsa money! C'mon, Greg, show'em!_" Another round and the race was over. Greg had won, therefore, Tej was now grinning all over his face.

"Pay up, pay up, pay up",he cheered while collecting his money, "nobody runs'em like I do", then, he looked at the blonde girl, still grinning, "you're like my lucky girl, ya know? Whenever you show up, my people win",Tej gently took her hands in his and pulled her onto his lap, "so, the guys want Tonio's? Ai, I take my usual, then",suddenly, something inside of the big pockets of Tej's pants began to vibrate, evidently it was his cell.

"Tej",she purred in a teasing manner, "I never knew you would be _that_ happy to have me sitting on your lap."

The girl got up while the man blew a kiss into her direction when he took out his mobile phone. Before answering it, though, he told the blonde to take his chair for as long as he was gone.

Lilly sat down and eyed Suki, having a chair next to Tej's.

"Hey",she smiled at the Asian, "do you also wanna have something from Antonio's? C'mon, Suki, I know how much you like that food."

"Nah, I'm still full with the lunch my mom cooked for me today",Suki rolled her eyes, "it's always the same, every Friday since I moved out, I go there and have lunch together with my parents and every time Mom thinks I haven't eaten anything in weeks. Not that her food doesn't taste, it's great, but...............just too much, ya know? So, no, I do without Tonio's, today."

"Okay", tilting her head to the side, th blonde wondered out loud, "what are you actually doing there?"Because Suki was flipping through some kind of catalogue.

"Oh",the young woman smiled brightly, "I will start a ballet course on Monday, therefore, I wanted to get the proper outfit. I bought the catalogue to develop an idea of what to go for tomorrow while shopping."

Lilly felt as though somebody had slapped her right into her face. "A ballet course?"She raised one questioning eyebrow.

"C'mon, don't gimme that look",Suki rolled her eyes, "I always wanted to do that and if my little brother receives a car, I might as well give myself a present."

"And where do you wanna go?"The blonde prayed that her friend would not say 'The Club', knowing that the beginners' class was directly before her 'pros course' would start, thus it would be one hell of a time for her to keep her secret a secret. At times, the teacher - Jennifer - even allowed the beginners or the younger dancers in the 'advanced course' to watch the professionals.

_Please don't say it, please don't say it_, Lilly curled her toes inside of her sneakers the moment Suki answered.

"In this really cool studio. It's called 'The Club'",she almost giggled, searching for a page within her catalogue while Lilly had a hard time fighting down the urge to cry out loud.

_What the hell am I supposed to do, now?! Why couldn't she got to 'Rhythm'?! Think, Lilly, you gotta think, girl! How to prevent her from finding out? How to stay unnoticed? On Monday, the beginners start at three o'clock, the course lasts an hour, at four o'clock, the pros start. And Jennifer usually allows them to spend some time watching us, to show them what they can reach when practising hard enough. Oh shit! But maybe she won't this time, the new beginners seems to be a class for adults and not for children. Thursdays, the pros are an hour or so before the beginners, so that won't be any problem. Pros at half past three until half past five, the beginners come at half past six. Well, as for the Sunday, there's no beginners class. How to solve that shit?_

"Chica? Hello? You listening?"Snapping her fingers to get the girl's attention, Suki sighed, obviously frustrated.

"Sorry",Lilly tucked part of her bangs behind her left ear, "was just distracted for a moment."

"Anyways",doing a motion with her hand, the woman pointed at the page she had searched for, grinning in excitement like a little child, "look at this. These are the shoes I'll be wearing!"

"Oh",Lilly's eyes widened. Her friend's index finger was pointed at toe shoes, so called _pointe shoes_. "But I thought you're a beginner?"

Pointe shoes had been especially created for dancing on the tips of the toes, therefore, they had a little box generally made out of layers of burlap and paper, saturated with glue, in the tip of the shoe. The first time Lilly had ever heard that some boxes really consisted of nothing but old newspapers, she had not believed it. The dancing on tip toes was also called _en pointe_. A dancer needed several years of practise to achieve the proper knowledge and strength before being allowed to dance en pointe. Another important point was the age of a dancer. Pointe shoes were not to be used before a dancer's feet were almost completely grown out, so to speak, not before the age of eleven or twelve. If used too early, the toe shoes could ruin everything. That was why many dancers having started at the age of five or six soon lost interest due to them not being allowed to learn how to dance en pointe.

"Yeah. So?"Suki frowned, not understanding what the teenager was implaying.

"Oh, nothing, just",the blonde shrugged, "one of my friends does ballet. She told me once that the shoes you wanna use are only for pros and not for beginners, cause they would be very difficult to dance on. What did the people at your studio say?"Lilly knew exactly that, at 'The Club', people were always informed about the gear they would need, so that she guessed Suki had not paid enough attention.

"Well",the Asian seemed to feel uncomfortable, as though having been caught, "they said something about tights, leotards, leg warmers or - what was it? - wrap skirts and spats or so."

"Nothing about shoes?"_You're evil_, Lilly thought to herself, knowing that the beginners should not wear any shoes during their first lessons. That way, it was easier to teach them the basic positions of the feet due to no shoes hiding how a foot was bent or how the toes were stretched or curled.

"Um, yeah, now that you mention it. I think they said no shoes…….dunno why, strange people. Well, they do their jobs, I guess",again, Suki was flipping through the catalogue, searching for just another item to show to the blonde.

"What the hell is that?"Brian, having just come over, asked, leaning over to his little sister. "Since when are you interested in tutus?"

"You're just hating cause _you_ couldn't wear one",she grinned evilly.

"I'll start with a ballet course",Suki told him happily, eager to spread the news.

"Oh-kay",the man had obviously not been prepared for this information, thus he was now struggling to find the right words to say, "have fun, then."

"Oh, please, don't show too much enthusiasm, Bullitt",turning her head slightly, the woman's eyes suddenly widened, "Amber!"She yelled out, having spotted one of her female friends entering the garage. Quickly gathering her stuff together, the Asian excused herself, already about to start a run over to her friend.

"Promise me never to become like that",Brian whispered into his sister's ear, only half-jokingly, though, while seating himself on th chair Suki had gotten up from.

"What?"Lilly eyed him innocently. "You don't like Suki's way?"

"That's not it. She's just………........very scary, at times. I mean, ballet? All that girly jumping and turning shit? That's not like my baby",he grinned, kissing her cheek.

_Well, perhaps, I ain't your baby, then,_ the blonde bit her tongue, fearing the wrong words might escape her mouth.

"Nah, I like cars better",she faked a smile, hating the way her brother was thinking about ballet almost as much as she hated herself for denying what made her life seem less empty: dancing.

"I'm gonna order some from Antonio's, you in?"She questioned him quickly to make herself stop thinking about the liar she was.

"Course, I'm in",Brian cheered, "my usual, okay? Or something else? Tonio's is always good food. What are you taking?"

"Um, I don't wanna eat anything, actually",the girl said, brushing her bangs out of her face, "I ain't hungry."

"What did you have for lunch?"The blonde man's voice sounded firm, causing Lilly to roll her eyes.

"Brian",she sighed exasperatedly, "I ain't gonna starve myself to death again, alright? I'm just not hungry, that's a normal thing happening every now and then. So, drop it already, will you?"

"Sorry for being worried about you",he replied sarcastically.

"So, you take your usual, okay",seeing Tej returning from the inside of the garage where he had answered the call, the girl rose from the chair, when Roman was suddenly standing in front of her.

"How's my Kitten?"He smiled brightly at her.

"On the run",Lilly held some annoyance in her voice, "m gonna order food from Antonio's, that Italian where you were with Brian and the others for celebrating last Wednesday. You hungry? Wait, you're Rome. What you wanna have?"

"Um",he looked rather stunned at her, astonished about her extremely fast talking, "ya know my special, right? I'ma take that."

"Alright, then",she walked past him and Tej who thanked her for having watched his chair.

"What the fuck was that?"Roman frowned while Tej was sitting down.

"Like I said",Brian shrugged, "she's got her red days, don't worry, she'll calm down in a coupla days."

"Chica's red?"Tej asked before grinning. "Well, she's been all nice with me, so it's gotta be you, man."

"Nah",the blonde man snorted, "you're just the one paying her."

"C'mon, dawg",his friend defended himself, "I love that girl, man. She's like my baby sis."

"I bet blondie just pissed her off",Roman said teasingly.

"If you think that you can handle her better than me, feel free to do so",Brian almost spat at them, obviously feeling attacked by his friends.

"So",Tej cleared his throat, intending to change the topic otherwise, so he feared, the blonde would be beating the shit out of them, soon, due to him disliking others judging his skills as an older brother more than anything else. Tej thought it might be the idea that somebody else could overtake the position as Lilly's older brother which got Brian so angry at times - even though the man considered his friend not to be of the jealous type, he knew that, whenever it was about the girl, Brian was................different.

"Who's holding up 'gainst me in the next run of jet-skis?"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Please review!!!


	3. Wanted: Contact

**Wanted: Contact**

It was twenty to seven when Brian and Lilly left together Tej's Garage. The Garage had actually closed at six, nonetheless, at six o'clock, it was merely that the work on the cars ended. Afterwards, the crew still had to clean everything, to draw up the 'today's to do' plan for the upcoming day and, at times, they discussed topics like new deliveries, new customers, if lifts had to be repaired...................such things took their time, but Brian respected that because the crew just wanted everything to work the way it was best for everybody: smooth, quick and at a high quality. So, Brian had had to wait for his younger sibling after she had finished spraying her last car for the day. It was now drying in her _Quarters_ due to her not seeing the need to push it into the room containing the red lights.

Once they had reached the other side of the road they had to cross when coming from Tej's, Brian laid, without thinking, his right arm around his sister's waist like he was used to. It was a habit he had gotten accustomed to so many years ago that he could not remember the actual date.

When Lilly had been little, he had always taken her hand and now that she was older, he would just lay his arm around her shoulders or her waist, just to pull her a little closer and to......................protect her. He knew exactly that she was no longer a toddler, still, she was and she would always be his little girl, therefore, the man preferred her near him, where he could have an eye on her. Of course, walking next to each other, there was not that big a distance between them, yet, Brian had already experienced at many occasions how boys and men reacted towards his little sister, especially when she was walking down the street. They would hoot, use their old lame talk and annoy the hell out of his baby.

"I know why you're doing this",Lilly said somehow mockingly,"you've just put your arm around me to make people believe that you're my boyfriend, so that nobody's gonna dare talking to me. That ain't working, Brian, people just tend to think that we're siblings hence to us _looking alike_ as they say. They must be blind, though."

"C'mon",he grinned, "why would I ever wanna try to ruin your chances for a possible date, hm? I got no reason to do so. I just don't want you to get cold, that's all."

"So, you're saying that you're pulling me close so that you can warm me?"She raised her left eyebrow suspiciously. "Yeah, right, O'Conner, just be careful with my new toy, I don't want it to be broken the day I got it."

Lilly was talking about the iPod Mini she had put into the pocket on the right side of her jeans. So far, this item had not given Brian a moment of peace. It was bothering him that the crew had gotten his little sister a present for her report whereas he had not. He had thought it would be okay with her that there was not a reward for everything, but, in retrospect, she had a great report even though the last months had been rather hard for her, therefore, Brian felt somehow angry with himself. He should have gotten something for her, he was her big brother, after all and he loved her. The problem was, if he got her a present now, it would just look extremely stupid. What was he supposed to do about it?

"You ain't, like, mad at the guys for having given it to me, right?"She looked at him. "Cause that would be no fair, I mean",the girl sucked in her cheeks, thinking about what she was going to say, "they don't know our ways that well, yet. They guessed we're doing all of that rewarding-shit, you know? They didn't do it to offend you, bro, they just..............dunno, they were just trying to be nice, I guess. Crash's getting his rims 'n tires paid by them, so they didn't want me to stand there empty-handed, I think. Please, don't be mad at them, 'kay?"

"I ain't mad at them",Brian answered honestly. They had already walked so far away from Tej's that they were merely another two hundred yards away from their apartment, "it's merely........",he shrugged, "the last time really was fucked up, alright? You know that, I know that, so let's not pretend anything different. Still, you manage to get that great grades and you take care of the household and you even work at Tej's. I..............I'm feeling bad for not giving you any credits for all of that, I mean, it's not, like, perfectly natural that you're doing all of this, so...................."

"But it's fine by me, bro",the blonde girl reassured him with a gentle smile. They had now reached the door leading into the apartment house and Brian opened it with his key. Walking inside the staircase, Lilly continued: "At school, well, I'm pretty much working for myself cause the better my grades are, the higher is the chance that a really good college will accept me. It would be unfair, if you had to do everything at home on your own, cause we're living there _together_, so we'll do the household _together_. I guess, I would feel like some parasite, or something like that, if I didn't do anything at all. And work? Well, I always loved working on cars and, c'mon, _getting paid for working on cars_? We're spending most of our time at Tej's anyways."

"So, you're not, like, disappointed in me or anything?"Brian asked from behind her due to them going up the stairs behind one another.

"Why would you think that I'm _disappointed_ in you?"Lilly emphasized the word 'disappointed' as though she had never spoken it out before. "You've had a hard time, too, let's not think about the upcoming. I mean, last week, when we received that letter from the social workers? There'll be so much stress due to them, I hate it. They'll ask stupid questions, they'll annoy the hell out of us while we'll have to be all smiles. I'm so _not_ looking forward to this."

"Yeah, but I don't think they'll find any problems",having stepped onto the floor their apartment was on, Brian heard Lilly's keys clattering when she unlocked the door and opened it. They were living in a rather little ten-floor apartment building having only two apartments on each floor. The other one on their floor was owned by some guy who had not been home very often within the time the siblings had been living there. Had not, because the last weekend, he had moved out. The apartment was now empty and could be sold again. Brian did not mind as long as the new neighbours would be like all of the other ones living in the house: quiet and leaving the O'Conners alone. When they had moved in, Brian had made sure that their living room had become insulated due to him loving to turn up the volume of the stereo or the TV very loud whenever something good was on. Therefore, he did not think that the neighbours were having any problems with them, except maybe for the times when he came home early in the mornign from the races, although he was trying to be very silent, then.

The social workers would not be much of a problem for him and Lilly, they were already used to the routine. Somebody would come and ask them questions, have a look into Lilly's school file, might even talk to some friends and that was it. Officially, so to speak _on the paper_, Brian was working as a mechanic at Tej's Garage, so they had a stable income. The only problem might appearing could be the fact that Brian did not have a girlfriend or a fianceé. When Lilly had been younger, they had always questioned him because they had liked to have a mother for the girl, yet, as he had received her custody rights, he had been together with Lisa, but now? He shrugged. Lilly was already sixteen, so he considered it unnecessary to worry about that. She was old enough now to do without a mother.

After having taken off his shoes, Brian strolled into the kitchen to get a Cola from the fridge. Then, he went into his sister's room without knocking.

The siblings had come up with a system for entering the other one's room a long time ago to avoid _horribly embarrassing situations_. Whenever a door was closed, knocking was appropriate, whenever a door was opened or merely leaning against its frame, one could knock, yet, they usually did not do that.

So, Brian just stepped into Lilly's room where she was about to throw her socks into her laundry _container_ standing in the corner to the left of the little glass table she had.

Lilly's room was actually not stuffed with furniture, she preferred things simple and clear. When one stepped into her room, to the right, there would be two shelves at the wall on which she put items like books she was reading, pony-o's, some make-up she used only on very rare occasions and, of course, her deodorants. Brian had to admit, he really liked the scents of his younger sibling's deodorants. She had a thing for fruit, therefore, they always smelled of it. Right now, she had _Raspberry Vanilla, Cherry Vanilla, Honey Melon, Orange Vanilla, Apple and Grapefruit_ standing on the upper shelf, whereas on the lower, she kept her books and some sort of small porcelain Buddha figure with the lines _For good luck, rub my tummy_ encarved on its seat. In the corner right to the shelves, Lilly had some sort of changing room one could put up – Brian had forgotten what it was called. It consisted of black iron bars being curved in a fancy way over which a thick white linen fabric was stretched so that it was not see-through. The iron frame could also be turned into different directions. The man did not know, why Lilly was actually havign that thing in her room, but she had wanted it and it looked really good in her room. At the wall forming the other site of the corner, there was first a full-length mirror and then, Lilly's wardrobe. It was about seven feet high, five feet wide and painted with a white varnish. Next to the wardrobe was the window, then, Lilly's light green armchair, her little glass table, the laundry container in the corner and the wall after the container was empty, yet, some of it was hidden behind Lilly's bed which she had out up so, that the headboard was standing against the wall left to the door when one came in. Between the bed and the wall opposite to the door, there was about one and a half feet of space, due to Lilly sometimes liking to crouch down there to read. Next to the bed was a little white nightstand, matching the wardobe, and the desk, also matching the rest of the interior. That was it.

"Can I help you?"Lilly raised her eyebrows, wondering why her brother was looking around her room.

"Oh, no, sorry, I was just.....",he grinned as a sign of embarrassment, before sitting down on her bed."

"Coming in here to occupy my bed?"The girl offered playfully while plopping down next to him.

"Nah",Brian closed the opened bottle in his hands and put it on the floor, "c'mere",he reached out with his arms, pulling his little sister's head gently onto his lap. After she had found a comfortable position to rest in while he was stroking through her long golden hair, he continued:"You know that, if you should ever want or need anything, you can tell me, right?"

"Brian",she groaned, "why are you still thinking about that shit? Why's it bothering you so much? I don't get it. I'm good, okay? And I know that you'd get me anything I wanted. Well, anything that's not endangering my health, but apart from that........",she turned around so that she could look him in the eye, "stop worrying, please, it ain't worth thinking so much 'bout it."

"Okay, then",the man resignated, "no more brooding",he grinned at her.

"That's good",the girl smiled, "as for the part of me wanting something, you know",Lilly tried very hard to put on her sweetest and most innocent face, "tonight, there's this party, so could you, _please_, bend my curfew _just_ a little?"

"How little?"Brian regarded her seriously.

"By, like, two hours, maybe?"Big blue puppy eyes were underlining the question.

"Lilly",the blonde sighed out, "you know the rules. Within the week, so when there's school the next day, you have to be home at midnight. On Fridays and weekends one o'clock, except for the racing, then, you can stay as long as I do. So, three o'clock for a party?"

"Oh, please",she stuck out her lower lip, "it's, like, the last chance to see everybody before they all go on vacation. Some visit relatives, some go to camps and others just do some traveling. C'mon, Brian, you're the one always complaining that I shall spend more time around people my age."

"But I thought you were coming with me to the races",also stucking out his lower lip, Brian reflected on the time having passed since the 'Verone-incidence'. So far, Lilly had not wanted to celebrate their victory, she had not come to the races and he could not recall on having seen her driving at all. By now, he began to feel a little upset because of this.

"I can go with you to the races some other time. Please",whining usually worked with Brian, therefore, Lilly tended to use it as her final weapon.

The young man chewed on his lower lip. Neither did he want to ruin his younger sister's social life, nor did he want her pouting at the races, if he took her there.

"Under one condition",he told her firmly with a raised index-finger, "I'm the one driving you there and I'm the one picking you up at _exactly_ three o'clock. If you are _nowhere_ to be seen at that time, I'll be coming in and getting you, alright?"

"That's no fair!"Lilly exclaimed, sitting up on the bed. "C'mon, has there ever been a time when anybody picked you up from a party? I'm _sixteen_, Brian, I don't need a babysitter."

"Either like this or not at all, your choice",he picked up his bottle of Cola before standing up from the bed, "so?"

Lilly let herself fall flat onto the covers, mumbling an _Evil blondie_ into the soft fabric.

"What was that?"Brian asked teasingly.

"I gotta be there at nine",the girl had turned her head around to face him, her eyes telling him clearly how unfair she considered the fact that he was using his authority against her, right now.

"Good, Rome and me wanted to go eat something before the fun begins, so nine's okay",he replied with an all too friendly grin when a pillow came flying into his direction, however, he caught it in time and returned it. "Be nice, I'm the one making the rules, here",he grinned, obviously enjoying the situation.

"Just close the door from the _outside_, will you?"Lilly glared at him while the man left her room, closing the door the way she had asked him to.

"He can be such a bastard",she muttered into the pillow she had put underneath her head, then, she looked at the clock on the nightstand to see how much time she had left before she would have to get ready for the party.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was 8:24 p.m. when Lilly was completely ready for going to the party. At school, Lissa had _advised_ her to dress up a little, so the blonde had even put on some make-up.

She wore white Adidas sneakers with black stripes on them, black low-rider jeans boot cut, a silver chain consisting of silver rings in three different sizes around her hips, her belly was revealed to a good six inches because of the top she had decided for being a little short, not too much, though. The top was red with thin white outlines, sleeveless and bearing her left shoulder due to it having merely one halter. It was actually cut like most of the girl's tank tops, only shorter and revealing her shoulder. Of course, due to it showing her shoulder, Lilly had to wear a bra without straps. She thought it would look stupid, if there was a strap over her naked skin and she feared that some of the guys, once they had drunk something, might pull at it.

The girl had plaited her hair and fixed it with two simple black pony-o's, one at the beginning of the plaited braid and the other at its ending. She had pulled out her bangs, though, and parted them so that they were now framing her face to each side.

As for the make-up, she had used some mascara, her eyeliner, bronzing powder for her cheekbones and her pearl lipgloss. Her fingernails were covered with a clear nail polish, only to make them shine a little in the light.

_Brian can't say anything against it_, she looked at her reflection, _it's neither showing too much nor looking slutty. It's okay, I guess. Defintiely no outfit I would go to the clubs with, but for a highschool party? Hell, yeah, it's perfect._

The girl went over to her bed on which a bag was lying. It was a little smaller than her _work bag_ which was even smaller than her school bag, still, it was not a purse. It was made out of white vynil with black piping, therefore, it matched her outfit. Within it, the girl had packed her cell phone, just in case something might happen, her new iPod Mini, her make-up, her keys and some money. It was a habit of hers that she always had about 150 dollars with her, no matter where she went.

_Just in case_, she always said to herself,_ if I need a taxi, or see something I really gotta have, or someone needs my help and so on. Like Sugar says 'Safe is safer'._

Lilly heard the telephone ringing and Brian answering it.

"Yeah, man, we'll be down in a minute."

Lilly guessed it was Roman having rang their door bell and then, used the intercom to tell them that it was him waiting for them downstairs.

Eventually, Brian knocked on her door.

"Are you ready in there? Rome's already downstairs",he told her.

"Yeah, I'm coming",the girl took the bag from the bed, then, left her room before standing in front of her older brother.

"Hello",Brian whistled by the sight of his younger sister, "I don't think I can let you out like that without my protection."

"Brian",the blonde sighed in annoyance, rolling her eyes. She knew that her brother was merely joking, yet, he could have thought of something better to say than that.

"I was just complimenting. You look very good",he grabbed her hands gently, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Only _very good_?"She raised one of her eyebrows in faked arrogance while the man chuckled.

"You're my baby sister, therefore, I can't say that you look hot",he grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, "I can say that you're beautiful, though. Still, you're my baby sister, so you will always be beautiful to me. See my misery?"

"Poor baby",Lilly hugged him, carressing softly over Brian's short hair, who was leaning into the touch.

"Yeah, pity on me",the blonde piped, snuggling his face into his younger sibling's neck until they both cracked up laughing.

"We're insane", walking into the bathroom to check her looks one last time, the girl was pursued by her brother, embracing her from behind.

"And very good-looking",he stated, resting his head on her right shoulder while regarding their reflection in the mirror, "do you actually know that we got no photo showing us together?"

Lilly, having just laid her hands on top of his around her waist, frowned: "Why are you mentioning this, now?"

"Dunno, just",Brian shrugged, "I noticed it when I was roaming through some of the old stuff we've taken with us from L.A., some time ago. There are pictures of you and of me, but none of us."

"So, are you saying that you want one?"The girl raised the left side of her upper lip. "You know how much I hate those fake pictures, don't you?"

"Mmm",sighing, the blonde tried to copy his younger sister's puppy eyes as good as possible, "please, baby, for me……..for your big bro, yes? Please, please, please?"

"I'll think about it, okay?"She pressed a kiss against his left temple before leaving the bathroom. "C'mon, now, I don't wanna be late."

"If you had your own car……………"

"Don't ya dare to even start like that Brian O'Conner",Lilly warned him from out of the hall, seeing her brother grin as he opened the door of their apartment for her.

"What?"He asked innocently, still grinning when his sister walked past him.

_Well,_ he thought,_ at least, she said that she would think about it. That's a start._

Then, he closed the door from the outside, locking it once it was shut and followed Lilly down the stairs.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"It's that house over there",Lilly pointed at one of the many mansions. In front of it, there were already several cars parking.

"Nice",Brian stated. He had been slightly irritated when his sister had told him that her friend was living in one of the more noble neighbourhoods of Miami, yet, all of those big and very impressive houses made him feel uncomfortable. The man knew exactly that he was able to afford such a home himself by his winnings, however, he preferred things on a way simpler basis. He had everything he needed and they were healthy, so why would he want such a house?

"You got the entire house on your own? Please, promise me not to be one of those damaging anything",he said once they had stopped in front of the gate leading to a drive leading to the main building.

"No, he lives in the pool house behind the main house where his parents spend most of their time. But don't worry, the pool house ain't endangered, either, because they got some private access to the beach or something like that, so, I guess we'll have the party at the beach",Lilly noticed another car coming down the road the side opposite to theirs. It stopped and she saw Vic and Lissa leaving it.

"So, three o'clock",Brian repeated, "and, believe me, I'm gonna be coming in to get you."

"I know, but I'll be out here, waiting for you, alright?"Lilly had already opened the door, about to step onto the sidewalk, when her brother held her back by grabbing her arm gently.

"You call, if anything's up, good?"

"Yeah, I will, don't worry",she smiled at him before getting out of the car and closing the door. She also waved at Roman having driven behind them the entire time. Lilly did not like him driving with his sprained arm, he knew that he should not move it, yet, he was even racing! Nonetheless, his arm was way better now than it had been last week, another week and it would be as good as new.

"Hey, girl",Melissa flashed her one of her thousand watts smile while the guy was using the intercom next to the gate to make Ramon open it for them.

"Hey, I dressed up",she told the older girl.

"I see",the brunette answered, taking in Lilly's outfit, "why do you never come like that to school? You look really gorgeous."

"Cause then, I'd have to get up so early",the blonde whined.

"C'mon",Vic called over to them once the gate opened, "Lilly looks great, let's go inside."

"Men",Melissa rolled her eyes. They all went inside.

Brian waited until he could no longer see his sister, then, he let his engine rev to show Roman that they could leave for the restaurant where they wanted to go before the races would start.

His friend still had to get to know the good places in Miami, so the blonde would show him around.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"And it would not even cost you more time than it does now, I mean, look at it, our physic ed classes are our practise and you're already participating, so make it."

It was a little past half past one o'clock in the morning.

The party was great, everybody having been invited had come, nobody was so drunk that they began to cause any trouble and it was not cold on the beach, although this might be because of the big fireplace some of the guys had lit up two hours ago.

Lilly was sitting inbetween Shonna and Melissa, who were both trying to talk the girl into either joinging the cheerleaders or the volleyball team. Unfortunately, they had been doing this for over half an hour, now.

"I know that, Shon, I just don't know, if this is the right thing for me to do, ya understand? There's also work and I want some time left for a private life, too",the blonde tried to reason with the now former seniors of Miami Jefferson Highschool.

"C'mon, ya can have your privacy, every now and then, there's a match, but nothing else, so do it. Our team needs you, now that I'm gone."

"And it's good for your status at school",Melissa added, "school spirit, you know? There are so many people around MJ High knowing you, so be a good role model and show'em that you're all for working hard and working together. Either you join the cheerleaders or the volleys, your choice, but, c'mon, wearing a cool outfit, being close to handsome guys playing football, except maybe for my brother and his _friends_, wouldn't that be great?"

"Lissa, for the last time, only because I practised with you girls a little, does not mean I'm all into cheering, alright?"Lilly took another sip of her Desperados, a tequila-flavoured beer. She usually drank it when she was at Phoenix, she even preferred it to Corona or Budweiser....................not that Brian knew of this.

"So, you're saying that you're joining the volleys?"Shonna grinned at her, her dark eyes sparkling. "Girl, we can't just go to college with the knowledge that you ain't got no team."

"I'd have to wait till the try outs, anyways",the blonde protested, "so, why deciding things now?"

"Because",the other girls chorused firmly.

Lilly shook her head no. She sensed that her friends would just go on and on, coming up with other reasons fo her to join one of the teams, so, she reconsidered the situation. She was already participating within the volleyball team's practise as physical education, the only thing added to it would be the matches. As for the cheerleading, well, she had only tried because Alysson and some others had asked her to do so and it had indeed been fun. At first, Lilly had felt extremely stupid, however, after a while, she had just started to laugh about herself and then, it had been fun.

"So?"Melissa asked.

"So?"Shonna repeated.

"Okay, you guys win, I'ma join volley once there are try outs",Lilly sighed in resignation while her friends began to cheer.

"Ey!"Shonna shouted and stood up to get everybody's attention. "Lilly says that she'll join volleys!"

Everywhere else people whooped, some even clapped.

"I'm doomed",the blonde girl muttered with a playful smile parting her lips.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Brian leant onto the hood of his Mitsubishi, counting the bills he had won so far this night. He had already had three races, nevertheless, he was still on the list for two more.

_It must be the Evo_, he thought, grinning because of the 43.000 dollars he was putting into the pocket of his black pants.

"Yo, punk",Roman called teasingly while walking up to him, "got nothing to do or why you ain't moving yar ass? That's the problem with ya white boys, too much time on yar hands, man."

"Somebody's hating cause he ain't got no races",the blonde man teased back in a sing sang voice, grinning.

"Oh, really, who is that poor guy, then?"He laughed raspily.

Brian looked at his watch. It was 2:17 a.m., so he would have to leave in about half an hour to pick up his baby from the party.

"Worryward",Roman shook his head, "she's sixteen, man, she can watch out for herself. Stop babying her, she hates that, I can tell."

"Do you remember the parties we had when we were sixteen?"The blonde asked him casually.

"Yeah",the other man shrugged.

"Do you also remember what we did with the girls at the parties?"

"Well",a wide grin tucked at the corners of his mouth, before his eyes widened in shock, "she wouldna do that, man, neva! This is our baby sis your talking about!"

"So, ya don't think that, back then, the girls weren't anybody's baby sisters?"Brian lifted his eyebrows skeptically.

"I'll be riding with ya when ya leave, bruh",Roman sounded very decisive, "back ya up, ya know?"

"Course",the blonde grinned, enjoying the sight of the _fearless_ Roman Pearce being scared that _something_ might happen to Lilly.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Whoa",Rico's eyes widened, "you mean, the guy that picked you up today, was your _brother_? As in you're related to _Bullitt_? As in _Bullitt, King of the Streets_?"

"C'mon",the girl rolled her blue eyes, "don't act like he's some kinda god. He's just my bro, alright? There's nothing like super powers going on, he just happens to win every now and then, 's all."

"_Every now and then_?!"The brunette sounded shocked. "Fuck, he's supposed to get'em all down, girl. And I missed my chance to ask'im for some tricks, shit!"

"There are no tricks to racing",Lilly cracked a smile, "ya just sit in your car and drive, that's it. Okay, ya gotta get used to the NOS first, but afterwards..........",she shrugged, "I could drive like that pretty soon after having done it for the first time."

Sitting together in a group of fifteen people, the teenagers had begun to talk about their vacation, so Lilly had told them about her working at Tej's Garage which had led to the guys starting to compete with their knowledge about cars. Eventually, due to them all having heard Mike saying everywhere that he was now participating in the races, they had disussed that and, of course, everybody had seen Brian's car when he had picked her up from school the day before, so this had somehow become a topic in their discussion. Lilly still remembered how many questions they had asked her when mentioning for the first time that she was sprayer at Tej's Garage, however, she had not answered all of them, not knowing how much she could tell them without getting any problems with Tej. So, now, the cat was out of the bag, so to speak.

"Wait, wait, wait",Vic raised his eyebrows questioningly, "are ya telling us that you're _racing_, too? And your brother doesn't have a problem with that, I mean, you're always complaining that he's such a mother hen, so how does that fit together? And did you win anything, yet?"

"Course, I'm racing", Lilly could not understand why her friends would not believe her, "and my bro is cool about it as long as he's around. He doesn't allow me to race without his okay, though, and in a car that's not been checked before and, _of course_, I already won some!"

"How much?"Rico grinned excitedly, eager to receive as much details about the races and the drivers as possible.

"Dunno",cocking her head to the side, the blonde looked skywards while trying to remember and to add the numbers in mind. Finally, she puckered her lips: "I'd say about 200 G, but I ain't sure, might be a little more, I guess."

Everybody else stared at her, eyes widened in shock.

"What?"She asked innocently.

"_200 G_!"Rico exclaimed. "Damnit, girl, ya really must be heiress to your bro's throne! 200.000 dollars! How come ya don't have your own fucking car, then?! Or are ya hiding it anywhere? Fuck, man!"

Lilly merely shook her head, amused by her friend's outburst. Looking at her watch, she saw that it was already 2:52 a.m. and it would be most embarrassing, if Brian came here to get her, therefore, she got up from the loungers they were all sitting on.

"So, I gotta leave, my curfew's three o'clock. I'll be seeing all of you at Au Revoir, right?"

"What?!"Ramon was shocked. "Ya can't leave us now, ya gotta tell us some more, girl! C'mon, please."

"Let her leave, already",Shonna got up as well to hug Lilly, "by, baby, I'll see ya at Au Revoir, okay? Have a nice vacation."

"Thanks, Shonna."

After some more hugs and goodbyes, Lilly went back into the poolhouse where she had laid her bag. Strangely enough, somebody had followed her: Josh.

"Hey",he cracked a smile, "I's also leaving. Today, I got practise, ya know? So, maybe, I thought, we could leave together or something like that."

"Sounds good",Lilly returned the smile. She liked Josh, he was kind of cute.

Josh – Joshuar – was Vic's younger brother by two years, so that Josh and Lilly were in the same grade. He was about 6'3 tall, had slightly curly brown hair that was cut short in the back but a little longer in the front, brown eyes, tan skin, white teeth.................he was very Miami, how Lilly had begun to call the guys here some time ago.

They even had some classes together. Josh was a player in the basketball team and, at first, he had been rather shy around Lilly, yet, the others, especially Vic, had told her that he was always a little nervous or quiet around girls he liked. Somehow, the girl envied the brothers for having such good a relationship to each other; they were not competitive, they were indeed friends, treating each other equally, talking about everything. She and Brian would never have anything alike.

Walking next to Josh down the drive to the gate, she heard him clear his throat.

"I think it's great that you joined volleys",he finally said.

"Oh, well",the blonde shrugged, "Shonna and Lissa wouldn't stop it, but I still gotta wait till try outs next semester."

"Uhm, there's the home coming match on Tuesday",Josh bit his lower lip, "you coming?"

"Dunno, I was actually not planning on going there."

The last week of a school semester was _home coming week_ at Miami Jefferson Highschool. All the alumnis would come and the old teams would play against the new ones. Lilly had been at the volleyball match.

"You really should",the boy blurted out, fearing his courage might leave him the next seconds, "it would be cool to have some people cheering for us."

"C'mon",she grinned, "there are gonna be lots of people cheering for you, don't worry."

"Yeah, but........."they had now walked past the gate which could be opened from the inside but not from the outside, "it'll be fun. You've never been at one of our games before. We start at six o'clock and afterwards, we'll go party somewhere, I guess. Everybody will be there but you."

"So, you're saying that you'd miss me?"Lilly cocked her head to the side and regarded him. He was just too cute when he was trying to gather all of his courage to ask her for a date. Then, Lilly spotted two cars standing on the other lane of the road: Brian and Roman.

"C'mon",she pulled at his highschool jacket, "I wanna show you something."

"Wha.......?"The boy merely followed her over the street to where a violet convertible was parking behind a yellow car. Obviously, the driver sitting in the yellow car was Lilly's older brother, the other driver was a black bald man to who the girl was pulling him.

"Hey, Rome",she greeted him with a smile.

"Hey, Kitten",he grinned while getting out of his car.

"Josh here",Lilly pointed at the boy, "is a fan of nice stereo systems. Ya know where to find one?"

"Hell, yeah",the man smiled, "open the trunk, already."

They went around the car and the blonde opened the trunk. Josh's eyes widened.

In there were five woofers, three _little_ ones and two big ones, a twenty inch TV monitor and..............

"Is that a playstation?!"He could not believe it.

"Yeah, a PS 2 and he's got even an Xbox in there. The monitor is 22 inches, the woofers are ten iches and fifteen inches. There are also two amps which we hid underneath the frame for the boxes. The NOS bottles are also lying somewhere underneath, but I don't know where exactly. I didn't build them in, ya know? So, you like it?"

Lilly knew that Josh was a fan to the heart when it came down to stereo systems and the moment Roman switched on the music, they saw the woofers vibrating, blasting straight Hip Hop against them.

"This is sick!"Josh laughed out loud. "Could you also do that with my car?"

"You bring the money, we do the rest",she told him.

Then, the music died down.

"Time to go home",Roman called over his shoulder, "we don't want blondie pissed, so hurry."

"Okay",the girl closed the trunk, "thanks, Rome."

"No problem!"

"Yeah, thanks",Josh was still smiling all over his face, "so, you coming on Tuesday?"

"I gotta see, but, maybe, might be fun, I guess",she shrugged.

"Lotsa",he then began to walk over to where he had parked his car.

"C'mon",Roman got out of his Eclipse and back in on the passenger's seat, "you're driving."

"But I had two beer",the girl told him.

"So what? My arm is sprained and I had at least three drinks. Who do ya think is the better driver?"

"Okay, then",Lilly got onto the driver's seat, "but you're responsible, if anything should happen and if Brian's mad."

"Nah, I just wanned to safe you from the interrogation. Who was that? Since when do you know each other? You know that man worries about too much shit",he grinned at her while she started the engine.

"Just wave at him when we drive past him",the girl laughed.

"Oh, I will, be sure of that much, Kitten."

Lilly drove onto the street and past the Mitsubishi. Roman flashed Brian the most stupid loopsided smile the blonde driving the convertible had ever witnessed.

Brian sat back in his seat, feeling extremely dumbfounded.

_He_ had told his sister that _he_ would pick her up and now, she was driving Roman's Eclipse right in front of him. And then, who had been this guy she had shown the trunk of the convertible? He merely prayed that his baby had not drunk, otherwise, he would be angry with her. She knew exactly that she was not allowed to drive when she had drunk. Hell, she was not even allowed to drink alcohol when he was not around. This meant asking some questions once they would be home.

_Or perhaps_, he thought while following them, _I should wait with that till later this day. We already argued yesterday and I don't want that to happen all too soon, again. I just wanna discuss this with her, not argue. We're both tired, I guess, so this would only lead to arguing, so no questions when we're home. I'll wait until the afternoon or the early evening when she's been home some time from work. In the evening, we can always talk best._

So, they drove home. Lilly and Roman in his Eclipse, Brian in his Evo.

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Please, review!! Thanks for reading!!


	4. Wanted: Sleep

**Wanted: Sleep**

The steady sound of the alarm clock on the nightstand rang through the silence of Lilly's room.

The girl groaned while hitting the little silver button to make the noise, having woken her up from a very deep sleep, stop.

It was 7:15, so she had had a little less than four hours of sleep due to her having come home from the party around 3:20 in the early morning. After having arrived at the apartment, she had changed her outfit, washed her face to get off the make-up and then, she had also brushed her teeth, therefore, she had gone to bed at 3:30 or even a little later.

"I hate it",she muttered with a pout into her soft cushion, "I don't wanna get up. Too early."

The girl tossed around angrily, glaring at the white ceiling.

"But I have to",she whined, unwilling to leave her warm and comfortable bed. Actually, if it was an ordinary Saturday morning, she would not have to get up so early, yet, this was not just another ordinary Saturay morning. Usually, on Saturdays, the work at Tej's Garage began at ten o'clock. Today, work began at eight o'clock, at least for Marco, Diego and Lilly. It was because of the new auto parts that had been delivered to Rodrigo's yesterday. Roderigo owned a _shop_ a little outside of Miami, although _shop_ was a great understatement, it was indeed more of a market. He had always about two hundred cars standing on his ground, ready to be sold at prices which could be considered fair. To Roderigo's, there also belonged the so called _pipeline_. The pipeline was a street he had wanted to be built as a part of his market, it was exactly two miles long and as wide as a runway. There, one could truly test the high speed of a car!

Anyways, for Tej, it was way cheaper to have his new parts delivered there than directly to his garage, so, two times a month, usually the second and the last Saturday, there was a new delivery waiting at Roderigo's to be fetched by members of the crew. The ride to Roderigo's lasted about fourty minutes, the ride back to Tej's longer because of the crew driving slower with the parts on the truck. Due to Tej wanting the work to start almost immediately when the garage opened, two people of the crew would have to drive to Roderigo's at eight o'clock in the morning.

_Two_, Lilly thought while getting out of her bed and shuffling into the bathroom, _two people to drive the trucks, yet, I gotta be there, too. Okay, it's actually not that bad, the drive's usually lots of fun and it's not like Tej sends always the same persons, except for me, I always gotta go. The second Saturday, Jimmy and Alex drive, the last, Marco and Diego. How do I fit into this? Cause I was stupid enough to bargain over the price with Roderigo the first time I went there together with the guys! You should have kept your mouth shut, Lilly! Now, Tej always wants me to go to haggle some with Roderigo. So, I can get him down to give us, like, a twenty or thirty per cent discount, but that's only because he knows just as well as I do that the parts ain't worth more. Everybody with eyes can see that, so why does Tej need me to go there?! I wanna sleep, for fuck's sake! Hell, I'm such a cry baby! Was it me who wanted to stay at the party till three o'clock? Yeah, so stop the complaining already! _

Stripping of her clothes, the girl did not even bother to put them neatly somewhere on the shelves or on the washing machine, instead, she threw them right onto the tiled floor only covered by a light blue bathmat. In the bath tub, she shut the shower curtains before turning on the water, a hot shower was exactly what she needed right now.

Fifteen minutes later, the blonde stood in front of the mirror in their bathroom, brushing her long damb hair. She had wrapped herself up in a big dark green towel they always kept near the bath tub. Lilly's was a dark green and Brian's a dark blue, only to avoid arguing, of course. While trying to fight the brush she was holding in her right hand through her thick hair, the girl began to reflect on the events of the last night, or better yet, this morning.

_The party really was fun, I'm glad I went there, even though Shonna and Lissa talked me into joining volleys. But they're right, I guess. I'm already practising together with the team, everything that would be extra are some games during the season and that's it.......................and it works better for me than cheering, although cheering is really strenuous. One should never underestimate how fit a cheerleader's gotta be, their grades have to be good, too, otherwise they get kicked out of the team. I wonder how Anders manages to stay in the football team, then. I bet his dad is pulling some strings for him. Somehow, I feel sorry for such people, cause without anybody's help, they'd be, like, nothing, yet, they pride themselves with 'their' achivements. That's so pathetic in a way. Fuck, I should have left earlier than three o'clock, I'll never survive this day! But Josh was so sweet when he walked with me outside, he's really cute. I'll have to tell the others about him some time, Marisa always likes to hear me talking about boys I like, she says I always look so happy, then. Sugar, Mona and Lola will just tease me, but that's okay, they're doing it in a nice way and not to hurt me or anything. They'd never do that. Will's gonna ask questions over questions and Tony, well, he'll just remind me of Nico. Nico aka the only guy I ever met that's absolutely perfect in each way! However, he's out of reach, I guess. Why would he ever want me, when he can have every woman he wants? Woman's the key word here. I'm merely some little 16-year-old, no experience with guys at all, except maybe for Jesse, yet, with him it was only kissing, never more. Nico's not gonna be interested in a stupid virgin hanging out with him. He just sees me as some kind of kid sister, I think, everybody does that. Well, everybody except Spike and V, of course. The one time Spike kissed me was because we had lost a bet, so we had to tongue each other for five minutes. Evidently, we're 'allowed' to do that in the ladies' room of Falls, so I didn't think he'd really wanna do it once we were inside a cabin, but he insisted on it. I gave in because I had drunk a little beforehand and 'fuck' he's a great kisser! In the end, we spend about twenty minutes in there. The one time when V and I kissed was pretty much the same. It was the first time I ever kissed a woman like that. We were both a little drunk, however, I can still remember everything, so I did not have too much alcohol at that time. We went together into the ladies' room of the V.I.P.e, we were actually planning on using the toilet for what it's meant for, but there were so many girls waiting for a free cabin that V and I just decided to share one, once it was free. I did what I had to do and so did V, yet, afterwards, she flipped down the toilet seat, sat down on it and pulled me onto her lap. The moment she looked at me and said 'c'mere', hell, everything her eyes were saying was 'come and let me fuck you'. I even think it would have happened, if I hadn't stopped in time. It was the throbbing between my thighs that made me stop, I guess, because I know its meaning. I just..............I wanna experience to what this throbbing leads when I'm together with someboy I really love. V and Spike are my friends, somehow like siblings, to them, it would have been nothing serious, merely an adventure, but I want more, I want...........................love. No wonder, I'm still a virgin. Oh, well, I might find the right person one day, if it was only for the searching not being so hard!_

She turned her head around to have a look at the little alarm clock standing on the middle shelf. It showed 7: 42.

_Fuck! I gotta be there at eight and I'm so not ready, yet!! I still gotta pack my bag, dry my hair, dress! Okay, dressing's not that much of a problem. The less I'm wearing the easier Roderigo agrees on giving me a discount, but I need at least ten minutes to dry my hair! Shit! Okay, hurry now, no more brooding!_

Putting the brush on the lower shelf, the girl picked up her clothes lying on the floor while throwing the towel she was wearing back onto its hook. Completely naked and with wet hair, she hurried into her room, grabbed a tampon from the box on her nightstand, unwrapped it from its film and shoved it carefully up her vagina.

_I hate it! I can only use 'mini', whereas everybody else seems to be getting along with 'normal'. Well, Sugar said everything would become wider once I had sex._

Then, Lilly opened her wardrobe, took out an orange thong, light blue stone washed low-rider jeans, of course, they were boot cut, a black bra, a white neck holder bikini top and a sleeveless black belly bearing shirt. She threw the bra on the bed and put on the bikini top, the thong, the top and eventually the jeans. Knowing that there was no time for drying her hair, she opened the wardrobe a second time to take out a white baseball hat with black outlines and the letters L and A also in black on the front.

Lilly twisted up her hair to put the damb mass underneath the hat before fixing it with several white bobby pins. Having grabbed a pair of white sneaker socks from the wardrobe, the girl pulled them over her feet and then went to pack her work bag. She literally threw her bra, her cell phone, her iPod Mini and some money in there. After having done so, she got her make-up from the bag she had taken with her to the party. Running into the bathroom, Lilly quickly brushed her teeth, afterwards, she put on her make-up, knowing what an influence it had on guys, so that it was most possible that Roderigo would give in even easier to her wanting a discount. Fortunately, the nail polish on her fingernail had still not faided away.

Being done with her make-up, Lilly rushed back into her room, packed her make-up into her bag as well and searched for her shoes: the old, completely worn out sneakers having formerly been white, but that were now slightly gray. She guessed they would fall apart very soon.

Looking at her alarm clock, the blonde saw that it was already 7:54.

_I may be fast, but not fast enough! Okay, deo, and out of here!_

The deodorant she used today was _Orange Vanilla_, then, she reached for her bag on the bed and while leaving her room, the girl still managed to rub the fat tummy of he Buddha figure on her lower shelf.

Of course, the door of their apartment had been locked by Brian after they had come home, therefore, Lilly cursed when trying to find her keys in her bag, realizing that they were in the other bag, so, she went back into her room, only to return with the keys a few seconds later. Locking the door again from the outside, Lilly sped downt he stairs, hoping that she would not be late. There were several things the girl hated, one of them was coming too late. She thought of it as extremely impolite.

_Don't we all just 'love' morning sports_, she thought sarcastically to herself as she jogged down the street to Tej's Garage. The blonde actually liked doing sports in the morning, if she felt like doing them and right now, she would have preferred to lie in her bed.

_Hell, I would have preferred to have breakfast or at least something to drink!_

Half a mile later, after lots of inner swearing because of neither having eaten, nor drunk anything, nor wearing the right underwear to jog, Lilly finally arrived at Tej's, where Diego and Marco where already standing next to two of Tej's five trucks, obviously waiting fo her.

"Sorry for being late",she told them, "I got up too late, I guess."

Diego merely whistled. "I like that new look",his dark eyes sparkled, "you could always come to work like that."

"What you mean?"Lilly frowned, although being used to Diego complimenting on her looks every now and then.

"I'd say, he's talking about your face",Marco smiled, "he's right, though. You look hot."

"Oh, that's nothing",she grinned. Once again, she had the proof that, if she was wearing make-up, guys would react positively to it. "I just thought it'd be easier to get a discount, then."

"So, let's roll",Marco said while opening the driver's door of the metallic blue Chevrolet, "and you're not too late",he assured the girl.

"And even if you were, you're worth waiting for",Diego added, also getting into the cinnamon pearl coloured truck.

"You're riding with me",the Italian told her, pushing the passenger's door open from the inside, "I can't trust Diego when you look so good."

"I'd never do anything to her",the Spanish argued, before grinning widely, "I'm a good boy."

"I know that",Lilly laughed, "I'll be riding with you on the way back, okay?"

"Okay",the man muttered, acting as though being sad while the girl got onto the passenger's seat next to Marco who was letting the engine rev.

"So",the man asked her, "how's your party? Brian all right?"

"The party was great",she smiled lightly, "and, strangely enough, Brian was really cool when he picked me up. I mean, I showed one of the guys, who had walked out together with me, Rome's stereo system cause he's such a big fan of those and then, Rome let me drive him home, his arm and all, ya know? So, when we came, home, Brian was really cool, he didn't say anything, just asked me, if I had fun and wished me a good night. I truly didn't expect him to react like that, cause, well, he's usually a lot more................._cop_, asking questions 'n stuff. I thought it was pretty great of him not to do that this time, he's actually been more like the cool older brother than the mother hen."

Marco cracked a laugh, enjoying her calling Brian a _mother hen_.

"One of the guys guided you outside, then?"He raised his eyebrows.

"It was not like that",Lilly protested, "we just happened to leave at the same time, that's all."

"If you say so",Marco teased, "when did you come home, if it was so much fun?"

"I's home around 3:15 and in bed, well, 3:30, I guess",she shrugged.

"Hell, you must be tired, then",he looked at her, a warm gleam in his dark eyes, "ya can crash till we're there, I don't want you falling asleep during work."

"Is that really good with you? Cause, I'd be so fucking grateful for only another half an hour of sleep."

"If it wasn't good with me, I wouldn't tell ya to crash, so do that, already."

"Oh, mile grazie, Marco, ti amo. Sei il mio favorito, veramente",she grinned all over her face.

"Allora, dormi",he told her.

Lilly unfastened her seat belt to make herself comfortable on the passenger's seat. The front seat consisted of only one couch, so that the girl could pull her legs up while her back was resting against the inner door. She laid her head on the backrest and closed her eyes, enjoying the slight rocking being caused by the running engine.

Soon, she had fallen asleep.

Marco switched on the radio at a low volume, careful not to disturb the sleeping girl.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Lilly",a soft voice said, while the girl felt something nudging her right calf gently, "we're almost there, c'mon, alzarti."

"Mmmm",Lilly pulled her legs closer to her body, cuddling herself deeper into the backrest.

"Wake up, already",Marco ran an affectionate hand over her knee, "ya can sleep some more on the ride back, okay? Now, c'mon, we'll be there in a coupla minutes."

Lazily, the blonde cracked one of her ice blue eyes open to look at the man sitting next to her.

"Sleep?"She tried with a pleading voice.

"So, you're awake",he grinned, "ya look cute when ya sleep, ya know?"

"So, lemme sleep some more",Lilly whined, although knowing that it was useless. Marco might be the one allowing her practically everything, yet, he was also the one being able to make her do things only by treating her so gently as though she was a little princess.

"Not now",his deep voice held a smile in it, "you can do that on the ride back and once we're back at Tej's, I'll give ya some coffeine to keep ya awake, alright?"

"I guess",she mumbled, "but neither Coke nor Pepsi nor anything, please. Can we stop on our way back at Starbuck's, maybe? I'd give anything for a proper Latte Macchiato with vanilla molasses."

"Good idea, I'd need some as well to keep my spirits up."

"Since when are you up?"Lilly asked, stretching herself a little.

"Since five",the Italian told her.

"_Since five_!?"Ice blue eyes widened in shock. "Why the hell would anybody get up that early on a Saturday morning!?"

"I was at the gym before work. I like it better when I can do my exercises without anybody disturbing me", Marco shrugged wiht his muscular shoulders, "on Saturday mornings, the gym's usually close to empty. And aren't you the one going to your ballet class every Sunday morning?"

"Okay, point taken",the girl yawned, then, she began to roam through her bag in search for the little mirror she kept in there. Having found the small item, she flipped it open to check her looks. Fortunately, her make-up was still in place, now, everything she would have to do was to take off her top and the thirty per cent discount was as good as safe.

Marco merely grinned while the girl pulled the black top over her head, revealing a perfectly shaped body every other woman would kill for. He knew how well she could use her _attributes_ to get what she wanted due to him having experienced it many times before in the clubs. Lilly was unpredictable, she might shake her right hip more than her left to gain a special guy's attention, she might turn her head to the side to make other women gasp at her perfect profile, she might act innocent and the next moment, she was all sex. Nevertheless, Marco would never forget that the girl was merely playing because of him knowing the real Lilly. She was sixteen and she just wanted to enjoy life.

"I hope Rigo is in a good mood, I hate it when people are unfriendly in the morning",Lilly put the mirror and the top into her bag the moment they drove through a large gate with a sign saying _Roderigo's – You don't find it here, you find it nowhere_.

"We'll be getting the stuff and you do the business",Marco said, his eyes swaying over the many cars standing side by side all over the area, "it won't take us long, twenty minutes, I think."

"And you really don't need my help with the loading?"Lilly did not like discussing the price with Roderigo while the guys had to load the trucks.

"Non abbiamo bisogno da te",the man reassured her, "we know that you wanna help, but you know that we don't want you to carry around the heavy stuff."

"It ain't all heavy",she protested, "I could carry the parts that are more easy."

"No arguing",Marco drove behind Diego to where Roderigo stored the parts. He stopped the truck right in front of the gate with the number _2_ painted onto it.

"Hola",Roderigo, having come over from the little building being used as an office, greeted them.

"Ciao",Marco got out of the truck, shaking hands with the other man when Diego joined them.

"Ey, man."

"Giovanna said that she wanted to talk to you",Roderigo told Marco. Giovanna was his younger sister, working for Roderigo as secretary. Being 22, so five years younger than her brother, the Italian woman tried to finance her studies by working each weekend as secretary and during the week as dancer, therefore, she went to the Club like Lilly. Marco, having once been a security in clubs, had always used his job to have an eye on his younger sibling, however, Vanna had told Lilly that he had been really great back then.

"I'll come in later, after we loaded up",the tall man answered while Lilly walked up to his side.

"Hola",she smiled slightly, putting her hands into the pockets on her bottom.

"Hola, Chica",Roderigo eyed the girl from head to toe, obviously appreciating her looks.

"So",the girl looked up at him, "you up for business?"

"With you, always",he offered her his arm which she accepted and led her over to the office, whereas Diego and Marco were already talking to the employees at Roderigo's happening to be old friends of theirs.

About thirty minutes later, Lilly, Roderigo an Giovanna came back from the office, the women being in deep conversation.

"You coming tonight, then?"Giovanna questioned the blonde.

"Nah, I can't, Mouse and I go Phoenix, ya know? Some battling, it'll be fun."

"Well, then, it'll only be Will, Ray, Sugar, V and me",she sighed, "Mona can't cause she's pregnant, Lola's got some family thing, Antony does still not feel so well, although I think he's overdoing it, I mean, it was just a cold, not some major accident or something."

"You know what he's like",Lilly rolled her eyes, "but we all love him for that. I miss Mona so much. She's not even moved away, yet, I already miss her. We were planning on doing something together tomorrow, though, after class."

"I know, neither do I Mona to move away, but it's best for them. Andrew's job in Orlando is way better than the one he's got here."

"Andrew's been my doc, I don't want any other",the girl whined.

"C'mon, you know his sister, she's really nice, so when she's overtaking the office", Giovanna shrugged, "she's okay."

"Yeah, you're right, I guess, I just don't want friends to leave",the blonde sighed.

"Ey, sis",Marco hugged Giovanna tightly once they had reached the loaded trucks, "how's my baby?"

"I'm good",she smiled at him, "how's my big one?"

"I'm all good",he grinned, "so, what did you wanna tell me?"

"Oh, Mamma a detto che.............."

Lilly walked past the talking siblings to where Diego was still talking to some of the other workers.

"How much did you get this time?"The Spanish asked, his dark eyes sparkling.

"Twenty five",the girl answered in a low voice, "let's better leave before he changes his mind again."

"Alright",he nodded at the other men, "see ya tonight?"

They nodded and said their goodbyes while Lilly was already getting onto the passenger's seat of the truck Diego would be driving back .

"Ciao, baby",Marco kissed his younger sister's forehead.

"Ciao",she waved her hand at them once they were all seated back in the trucks, starting the engines.

"Bye",Lilly called out of the window, then, she leant back against the backrest enjoying the silence that was merely disturbed by the sounds of the radio.

"Marco told me",Diego spoke up, his voice warm, "sleep some till we're at Tej's, okay?"

"I love you guys, you know that?"The girl was indeed tired, neverheless, she still wanted to change before taking another nap, therefore, she fished her black top out of her bag and pulled it over her head.

"Hey, no changing",Diego protested, "I love that look!"

"But I can't work like that",once the top was over her upper body, Lilly took her bra from the bag as well, laid it around her waist and shut the little iron hooks behind her back before lifting the item underneath her top. Then, she grabbed the neck holders being knotted behind her neck, pulled them over her head and opened the other knot on her back holding the bikini top up. Having it removed from her body, the blonde stretched and flexed her arms in a very trained way, so that the straps of the bra were over her shoulders very fast.

The entire time, Diego had tried very hard not to look at the girl, not that he would see anything he was not supposed to see. This girl was ten years his junior, however, she was a treat! The man knew he was too old for her, or better yet, that she was too young for him, nevertheless........................

_Some dreaming every now and then is okay, I guess_, he told himself while observing how she cleaned her face with several wet sheets she had brought with her in her bag.

"Why can't you work like that? I don't see anybody minding",he wondered out aloud.

"_Brian_?"Lilly raised her eyebrows. "Do I still have anything on my face?"She looked at him.

"Nah, I don't see anything left",the man told her.

"Good, then, I can sleep now",she packed everything back into her bag before making herself comfortable on her side of the couch, "and it's really good with you?"

"Yes",Diego laughed, "why do you always have to ask ten times? Crash, already, you need it."

"Thanks, Diego",the blonde girl smiled at him, then, she shut her eyes.

It did not take her long to fall asleep.

It was quarter past ten when they were back at Tej's Garage. The guys parked the trucks so that both of the storerooms were not all too far away. At Tej's Garage, there were two storerooms: one only for the electronics and the other for the actual car parts like body kits, rims, tires and engine parts.

Lilly was still sleeping on the passenger's seat.

Once Diego and Marco had gotten out of the trucks, they advised the others not to be too loud, so that the girl could rest some more.

"And we need somebody to get us something from Starbuck's later on",Marco said.

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Reviews? Thanks for reading, I hope you had fun!


	5. Wanted: Clarity

Hey, I'm back. Sorry, school's keeping me kinda busy. I gotta write an essay, in English. Fifteen pages about Elizabeth I of England in connection with the story about Lady Amy Robsart/Dudley and her _husband_ Lord Robert Dudley – he's an asshole for what he did to Amy.

I gotta hand it in on March 11th, and, so far, I got merely five pages, so the next chapter might take a while.

Please review!

Thanks for reading!

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

**Wanted: Clarity**

It was noon when Lilly bent down on front of Shane's Honda S2000 to measure its hood, so that the hoodscoop her friend wanted to have in the center would really be in the center and not an inch or even more to the left or to the right.

After having come back from Roderigo's, the guys had been sweet enough not to wake her up from the deep sleep she had fallen into while leaving the car market. Although the girl knew they would have appreciated her help with the unloading of the trucks, the men had just decided to let her rest until they had been done with the entire work. Then, Marco had woken her up very gently by tickling her sides a little. They had even gotten her a Latte Macchiato with vanilla mollasses.

_My guys_, Lilly thought with a warm smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, _some spoiling every now and then is actually not that bad, I think they're overdoing it lately, though. Yesterday, I got the iPod, today, they let me sleep instead of helping them...what the hell am I getting paid for, then? Doing nothing's not one of my first options. I should pay lunch today, I owe it to them. They're always so sweet and caring...and they complimented me so much, this day! Okay, this morning, when I had put on my make-up and the bikini top, it was not that big a miracle, they're not used to me showing some skin or doing girly stuff like make-up, yet, they seem to like me wearing the baseball hat very much. My hair would not cover my face, then, they've said. Well, I can't recall ever having worn a baseball hat at work before, I usually just braid my hair when I gotta spray a car or so. My hair's nothing but disturbing, then. Working with a hat is actually quite okay. My hair's not flying around in my view, I don't have to worry about any grease or dirt getting into it, hell, I wouldn't even have to wash it in the morning before coming here! Just tuck it underneath a cap and nobody's gonna notice. It's not that unusual that I gotta wash my hair twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, although it's not all that good. Fortunately, Sugar's always taking care of me getting good care products, so 'm not all that busted. So,_she laid the measuring tape on the left side of the hood, _here I got five, ten, I'm better writing it down. I could kill myself, if I didn't do this properly. The spraying's also gonna be difficult. Damn transition he wants! Dark green flames at the bottom changing into light green changing into yellow changing into black...and all that not higher than the fenders are. Everything done by myself, of course, and then, I might even add some silver pin-stripes. The base-coat will be a silver metallic and on top the black Kandy. Base-coat, Kandy and clear-coat are going to be the the less difficult. Oh well, it wouldn't be any fun, if it wasn't a challenge, I guess._

Lilly got up from her squatted position, aware of the fact that several guys had eyed her while she had been down on the ground. The blonde was used to it by now. Whenever she squatted or bent down, there would always be at least one guy regarding her, it was even worst when she had to use a creeper to work on a car. If she should ever decide to tell Brian about the blunt offerings she got at such times, then, there would be either lots of dead men or lots of men being afraid to come to Tej's Garage.

So far, most of the guys had not been very obtrusive, nevertheless, within the past months, some had indeed crossed that border. They had not been willing to back off when being asked, therefore, Lilly had had either to defend herself or the other members of the crew had _made_ the guy back off, with the advice not to come back all too soon.

Walking over to the office to get a paper and a pencil, Lilly saw Roman sitting at one of the little white tables, reading the newspaper.

"Hola",she greeted him and stopped by his side to have a closer look at what he was reading, "houses and apartments?"She frowned.

"Hey, Kitten",he grinned at her while pushing back his chair to make room for her to sit down on his lap, "yeah, I can't stay on that boat my entire life, ya know?"

"Nah",Lilly said, still standing, "Roman Pearce needs some _real estate_. So, what are you going for? House or apartment?"

"The latter. I need some bases, first, then, I can head for the big ones",the man told her, "I like that look on ya."

"Thanks, I just didn't have the time to dry my hair, though",she answered him honestly and made him chuckle.

"Suits ya, but I don't think blondie's gonna approve. Ya know how much he loves his _little angel_ with her long golden locks",Roman rolled his eyes before laughing, "some time, ya should just cut it off and dye it all black or something. Man, that would kill'im!"

"Hm", the girl cocked her head to the side, thinking that Roman's suggestion might indeed be fun, "I'll let you know. Have you found anything, yet?"

"No, nothing's for me",he sighed, "d'ya know any for me, for your fab brother Roman?"

"Don't let Brian hear ya talking like that",she grinned, "but, I think I really got something for you, maybe."

"So, tell me."

"Do you like ours, like, in size and everything?"

"Yeah, 's alrigh', but you guys ain't moving out, are ya?"Roman frowned.

"No, but the guy living opposite to us. The apartment looks pretty mucht he same as ours, I guess",she shrugged, "you should talk with Brian about it. He did all the business with the owner when we moved in."

"I'ma do that",he nodded, "thanks, Kitten, yar really helping me out here, girl."

"Tis alrigh'. I guess, Brian will be coming 'round in an hour or two",an evil smile made her lips part, "or ya can wake him up by calling him. Tis time for him to get up, anyways."

"Did blondie say anything when you guys came home? Was he mad at ya?"Roman frowned, honestly concerned. He did not want the girl he loved like a youger sister to have problems with Brian only because he had let her drive them home after her party had been over. It had been his idea, therefore, he did not like the thought of her having to bear the consequences.

"Nah, actually, he didn't. Just wanted to know, if I had fun and wished me a good night. I'd say, he's getting old",Lilly grinned.

"Only coupla weeks left till his birthday, right? Damn",the man scratched the back of his bald head, "ya got any idea what I could get for him, I mean, blondie's already got everything, except maybe for common sense."

"Well, I don't worry about that, I already got his presents or, at least, ordered them, so I'm out of the stress."

"But it's, like, five weeks left till his big day!"He shook his head no. "That must be his negative influence on ya, Kitten, believe me, yar getting crazy just like him. Be glad that yar man Rome's here, now."

"Whatever",she rolled her eyes playfully, smiling at him, "I gotta go back to work. You'll be having lunch with the crew?"

"Lunch. Me. Always",Roman flashed her a wide grin, "just don't work too much."

"Neva",Lilly's eyes gleamed when she walked past him into the office to get a pencil and a piece of paper.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The sound of a phone ringing cut like an arrow through the O'Conner apartment.

Brian groaned, his face an annoyed grimace while he tried to bury his head deeper into his pillow to shut the noise out, however, it was useless. Whoever was calling him appeared to be rather stubborn.

Eventually, the blonde man could no longer stand the ringing and left his bed, ready to yell at the person having decided to wake him up at...he looked at his watch which he had not bothered to take of when he had gone to bed. It was 12: 42.

Scratching with his finger tips the thin line of hair underneath his belly button, Brian tucked as well at the waist band of the trunks he had put on for sleep due to him not having worn any boxer shorts the last night and hating to sleep in jeans.

With his lips pressed together to supress any sudden outburst, he took a deep breath. After all, it might be one of the social workers calling and he did not want to give anybody the impression of him being just like his father: an aggressive and impolite man.

"Yeah?"He answered it, holding the receiver so tight that it was almost breaking in his hand once he heard laughter on the other side of the line.

"_Roman Pearce!_"Brian shouted in anger. "_How the fuck is that sick brain o' yours working? Do you have any fucking idea of what I'm gonna do to ya, once I get my hands on ya! Fuck, man, I was sleeping! You better start the praying right now, Rome! Damn! I mean...why the hell are ya calling, anyways! I would have come over in an hour or two, you know that! And even if you didn't, ya could've just asked Lilly or one of the guys! Fuck you, man!"_

"C'mon, blondie, rise and shine",Roman had still not stopped laughing raspily, he obviously enjoyed himself, "your girl's up and at work since eight, so don'tcha complain, man."

Brian did not even respond to this particular remark. He hung up before pulling the cable out of its socket, a satisfied grin playing around the corners of his mouth when he strolled back into his room and cuddled himself once again into his soft covers and pillows.

_Rome's gonna die_, he thought the moment he shut his eyelids.

Twenty-three minutes later, Brian looked at his watch, again. He had, so far, not managed to fall asleep after Roman had woken him up by calling him.

"I went to bed about 3:30 this morning",he frowned, "this means, I slept, like, nine hours. Hm",the blonde puckered his lips, "shall I get up now or try to get some sleep I obviously don't need? If I stay up now, I could go over to Tej's and have lunch with everybody. Oooookay",one quick motion and Brian had left his bed to walk into the bathroom for a shower.

Within the bathroom, he felt some cloth underneath his left foot when he had stepped onto the light blue bathmat. Looking down, the man saw an orange panty lying on the ground.

"Good morning, Lilly",he muttered softly while picking up the item with the tips of his right thumb and index finger as though it would be dangerous for his health to touch the piece of undergarment. Then, he threw it on top of the washing machine and let his eyes sweep over the room. It seemed to him like his younger sibling had been in some kind of hurry. Her toothbrush and the cup she used were still standing on the outline of their sink, her hair brush lay on the toilet seat and her big dark green towel had apparently fallen from its hook.

"If she had come home at one o'clock",Brian took the brush to lay it on one of the shelves, then, he tipped up the toilet seat with his left hand while opening his trunks with the other, "she would have had enough sleep and, therefore, no problems getting into gear, but _no_", he rolled his eyes the moment he felt himself being released of the pressure on his bladder, "she _just had to_ stay there till three o'clock in the morning. And she drank. Although knowing exactly that she is not allowed to drink when I'm not around, she drank nonetheless. And then, she even went so far to drive Roman's car. It's one thing if my sister drinks without me being there, but it's entirely different, if she drives when she has drunk. I'll talk to her about this later on, in the afternoon. I hope she has already figured out that there's some serious grounding coming up for her."

Brian let his trunks fall down on the floor while shutting the toilet seat. He then climbed into the bath tub, shut the curtains and took a warm shower.

_How am I supposed to tell her that she's grounded?_The man thought under the warm jet of water. _Hell, when was the last time I ever had to ground her? That's been some time ago, still back in L.A., I guess. When she came home extremely late from a date with Jesse. Yeah, that was the first time after the summer that I grounded her, although, after she had spent the summer in that clinic, she was rather silent and shy around people. She always behaved perfectly, so that she wouldn't piss me off again. I wanna hurt myself so much for what I did to her, what I made her go through. I love my baby...that's why I gotta punish her now. I only want what's best for her. Of course, she'll possibly be mad at me, but eventually, she will understand. Maybe she's in a better mood already then she was before. I really have to think of something, if this 'whatever attitude' doesn't stop anytime soon. It actually begins to freak me out. If she was only willing to talk to me. Fuck, us arguing right now is not what I need and it ain't gonna become any better, if I ground her, but it's gotta be. Life sucks! I'm somehow supposed to be her dad, yet, I just wanna be her friend, her big brother. I just want her to trust me, for fuck's sake! And everything she does is pushing me away. I always knew that there was a chasm between us, simply because I'm ten years older than she is, however, I liked to think that, once she became older, it would, kinda, 'close' or something. We've been through so much shit together, one would not think it would be possible that we're drifting apart now._

Brian sighed.

_Don't think about this, right now. Just shower. _

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

About half an hour later, Brian shut the door of the apartment behind his back, locked it and went down the stairs, eager to arrive at Tej's Garage as soon as possible to beat the shit out of Roman.

Downstairs, the blonde man opened their mail box to check for any mail from the social workers and the newspaper. Inside of the box, there were several letters and the paper. He took out all of them before looking them through.

"Bill, bill, advertisement",he mumbled, the newspaper already tucked underneath his right arm. A questioning look appeared on his face.

"What the hell...?"Brian threw the bills and the advertisement back into the box, while tearing the envelope he held in his hands open.

"Mister O'Conner, we have to...",his eyes scanned the letter quickly, "oh, shit!"

After some cursing, Brian puckered his lips. He had almost completely forgotten, simply because he had wanted to forget. He would have to testify in court in the trial against Carter Verone...just like his younger sister. There was another letter addressed to her, too.

"Great day, so far",he muttered under his breath when he closed the mail box containing the bills and the advertisement, then, he left the house.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Hey, Bullitt",Jimmy called over once he saw the blonde man entering the area of Tej's Garage, "you up early."

"Fuck you",he shouted back, a grin parting his lips, "where's Rome? I gotta talk to him."

"He's in da back, man",the mechanic told him, "you wanna eat with us? Diego is riding in five to get some from El Mariachi."

"Um, yeah, I'd like...wait",he thought a little, "El Mariachi, then, I want the 43 with extra cheese."

"Gotcha. So, you running tonight? We already loaded yours."

"Thanks, bro, I'ma pay later and yeah, I got some rides this night. Gotta earn some for a living, ya know?"He chuckled when he saw Jimmy shaking his head.

"Just how much did you make last week, Bullitt, huh? C'mon, it's gotta be _at least_ 250 big. What kind of living you wanna afford, man? Better afford Chica with a ride, Suki's bro's driving her insane."

"Whatcha talking 'bout?"Brian frowned, scanning the garage. Neither Lilly nor Shane were anywhere to be seen. He knew exactly how much the boy was telling people about his car at this time, the kid was really excited about it, however, the blonde did not expect Shane to go so far to tease Lilly about him having his first on the contrary to her.

"Well, ever since he showed up here this morning",Jimmy cleaned his greasy hands with a cloth, "he was annoying the hell out of her, man, coz she was working on the body kit of his car. Whenever she did something, he would ask her, if she shouldn't be doing it in another way. After the front and the rear bumper, I thought she was gonna shred'im into pieces, yet, she still managed to do the spoiler in his presence, then, the moment he wanted to know, if she would be done soon, hell, we're having fun. She grabbed him, pulled him by his hair into the backyard, giving him a speech on the way and eventually, she threw him into the pool to cool down and if he wanted to do the work all by himself, he would just have to say it. Fuck, Chica was mad. Gotta tell ya, man, that boy's giving us a hard time."

"Where's she now?"Brian wondered, hoping that she was doing something that would calm her down so that she would not explode once he had told her about her being grounded.

"In her quarters, spraying Shane's car. She's been in there for almost an hour now, so, I guess, she'll be done soon. She showed me how the design's gonna look. Fucking great, bro, I tell you! Damn complicated, too. Lotsa transition in it, makes it really difficult."

"Don't worry, dawg, she'll manage. So, you said Rome was in the back? See ya later, then",Brian turned around, heading into the direction of the backyard to where his _friend_ ws supposed to be.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Ya did a fucking great job on that one",Alex said as helped Lilly pushing the Honda S2000 into the red light room.

"I know, and if he ain't grateful, I'ma hurt him _bad_",the blonde girl answered, "that's enough, Alex, you can stop pushing, now. Thanks."

"Welcome",he smiled, leaving the room when Lilly switched on the red lights before locking the door behind her, "any plans for tonight?"

"Yeah, Mouse and I go Phoenix. Just dunno the time. I gotta message him, I guess",Lilly shrugged, "how about you?"

"Races, girl, I wanna test that new set of rims 'n tires I got today. But be careful with Phoenix, ya know that business is illegal, so if the cops decide to show up...",he let it hang there.

"I know, then, I'm busted. I'll just have to think of something",the girl eyed Diego's Acura RSX coming up the drive and grinned, "finally some food for me."

"Ya couldn't have asked the guys to, like, stop somewhere to get ya something to eat?"Alex raised his eyebrowes, although actually not having any. He had once had to shave them due to him having lost a bet and now, he preferred having none.

"How could I ask'em when I was asleep?"She wondered, still grinning as she heard Diego, just having gotten out of his car, yelling _Alimento!_.

The other members of the crew had already pushed several of the white tables together, so that they could start to eat immediately. Amongst them, there were also two part time workers. The only ones working on Saturdays. During the week, there were usually more at Tej's Garage.

The part time workers' names were Dennis and Angelo. From the litte conversations and from the races, Lilly had gotten to know them a little better and considered them okay. They had neither an attitude nor were they looking for trouble.

Suddenly, the blonde frowned.

"Do I wanna know what happened?" She folded her arms in front of her chest, her lips puckered while her eyes wandered over Brian and Roman sitting next to each other at the tables, neither of them wearing a shirt and, after having come closer, Lilly also saw that their pants were completely wet.

"It was all blondie's fault",Roman began to defend himself at once, "I's just talking to Tej when he came out of nowhere and yelled at me while he was about to knock me out, I swear."

"Yeah, but don'tcha forget to tell her that you deserved it!"Brian felt offended, looking at his sister. "Do you know what he did? He called at ours till I was awake and then, I couldn't go back to sleep, thanks to him! I wa fucking entitled to do beat him up! And it was his fault that we fell into the pool!"

"It was not, man! If you wouldn't have gone all fucking revenge one me for a damn wake up call, we would've never fallen in there!"

"Yeah, right, if it hadn't been for that fucking _wake up call_..."

"_Shut the fuck up!_"Lilly yelled at them. "_Both of you! Right now! No more arguing! I already had enough stress, today!_" The girl glared at Shane sitting next to Jimmy at that last comment. Just like Brian and Roman, the boy had taken off his shirt to let it dry out, while his pants had dried some in the meantime.

"Let's just eat",her voice was very low and full of restrained anger she tried to cover with faked politeness. Lilly sat down on a chair between Diego and Marco – her heros of the day – and took a deep breath, aware of everybody either trying not to burst out in laughter or to act as though nothing would have happened. She watched Brian unfolding the newspaper in his lap to read it while eating.

"Wanna have anything? Sports? Cartoons? Politics?"He offered once he had noticed her looking at him.

"Nah, but what's that headline on the front page saying?"Lilly frowned, craning her neck lightly to the side to get a better view on the page.

"Let's see",he turned the pages around to have a look at what had caught his younger sibling's interest. There, on the front page, was a bolt printed headline saying _Grand Car Fair – Finally_.

"When! Where!"The blonde man read the article as fast as possible, eager to get as much information as possible.

"Five weeks, here in Miami, dawg", Tej told him, "they already wanned to pull it last year, but they had some problems with the administrations. Fuck them, always spoiling the fun. Ya know, till now, there've been a whole bunch of people calling, wanting to get their rides going mad."

"Why? Can everybody show his car there? I thought those fairs were only about equipment and new cars",Lilly took a bite of her burrito she had ordered, savoring the rich taste of chili in her mouth.

"Nah, this one's different, Chica",Tej swallowed down a sip of beer, "there's the fair, but there's also some competition going. Best engine, best body, best paint job",he eyed her, pointing a finger at her, "I expect one o' yars to be the winner, got that right? There's lotsa people coming from all over the country, so I wanna show of with my crew, ai?"

A chorus of "yes, boss" sounded up.

"I gotta sign up for this, man!"Brian was completely excited, making Lilly smile.

"First, you'll eat, otherwise it's getting cold",she told him, gaining a grin from everyone for talking to him like a mother to a child, "then, you can go call'em, alright? Fine."

Brian did not even try to argue, knowing that she was right. It would not matter if he called now or in twenty minutes. He could still not think of a way to approach the subject of grounding towards his sister, but, eventually, he would find one.

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"Yeah",Brian smiled, "thank you very much...yeah...alright...bye."

He hung up the phone, obviously very content with the situation.

"Finally",Lilly rolled her eyes the moment she walked into the office of Tej's Garage, "I thought you were planning on spending the entire afternoon in here. Would you, please, get up from my chair now? I wanna work with the computer."

"Be nice to me",the man pouted, "I just signed up for the fair, so you gotta be nice to me."

Slightly irritated by this comment, the girl walked nonetheless up to where her brother was sitting in her chair. She spreat her arms and leant down to hug him when his arms slipped around her waist, pulling her onto his lap.

"That nice enough?"She smiled against his neck.

"I'll live",he grinned, resting his chin on her shoulder before sighing.

"What's wrong?"The girl asked him, concern in her voice.

"You got mail",Brian told her while handing her the letter he had put on the desk.

"Okay",she took the envelope and opened it at once, "Miss O'Conner we have to inform you that...aw, fuck, I had almost completely forgotten. Do I really have to go there?"

"Yes, you have to, just like Roman and me",usually, her pout would have made him give in, but not this time. This time, it was way too important, "c'mon, we'll go there, we'll give evidence, we'll leave. And watch your language."

"Why? You think it sucks, too",putting the letter aside, they looked at each other. Something in her brother's eyes caught the blonde teenager's attention.

"Is there anything else you wanna tell me?"She narrowed her eyes, trying to read his mind.

"Actually, yes, there is",Brian sighed. It was one of those _now or never_ sighs Lilly hated so much, "I wanted to talk to you about last night."

"Okay",waiting for him to continue in anticipation, Lilly already foresaw the upcoming. So, her older brother was not as cool about it as she had thought him to be.

"Did you drink any alcohol there?"Brian looked sternly at his sister avoiding his eyes and leaving his lap.

"Yeah",she replied while leaning against the edge of another desk.

"How much?"Brian was using his _interrogating voice_ Lilly hated so much.

"Beer. Two bottles. 0,3 litres",Lilly was not planning on giving him more information than he wanted.

"You know..."

"Yes",she cut him off, evidently annoyed, "I'm not to drink when you're not around, something might happen to me, somebody might take advantage of me then, and, of course, I'm not allowed to drive even when everything I had was a single sip. As for the driving, you ain't gonna accept that as an answer, but Rome told me he wouldn't be safe enough a driver cos of his arm and the drinks he had, so I drove."

"Lilly, I am not making the rules to mock you, you know that",Brian rose from the chair to stand in front of his sister still avoiding eye contact, "and if you know the rules so well, why are you breaking them on purpose, then? _I_ would have driven you home, all you had to do was to get into the Evo instead of the Eclipse, but you didn't. I hope you understand that I cannot support such a behaviour, don't you?"He waited for her to respond, yet, she was merely looking at the floor. "Don't you?"Brian repeated, his voice firmer and lightly louder.

"Yeah",she finally answered, her voice a mere whisper, however, sounding slightly angry.

"Okay, then",he moisted his lips with his tongue, "you're grounded till Wednesday. No TV, no DVD, no video, no friends, no races, no phone. You'll go to work and come home directly after you're done here. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah", she breathed out, still annoyed.

"Fine. Now look at me, please",due to his sister not reacting at his request, the blonde man gently cupped her left cheek and turned her head to the side. Her ice blue eyes were glaring at him, she had sucked in her cheeks and he could tell by her clenched jaw that she was biting on the insides of the flesh, "don't act as though this was my fault, okay? You are the one that acted wrong, not me. I'm only doing this because I want what's best for you. If you want to apologize, I'll be out in the back. I love you, baby, that's why I gotta do this, okay?"

Lilly did not reply, she merely looked away to the other side where there was no hand cupping her face.

"Okay",Brian put his hands into the pockets of his nearly completely dried trunks; he would have to live with her being stubborn, "I thought you were mature enough to understand that. You wanna act like a child, fine. You know where to find me",he turned around and left the office, closing the door behind his back.

Lilly was still leaning against the edge of the desk, her arms now folded in front of her chest. She felt how hot tears began to dwell up in her eyes. Grabbing her bag she had hours ago placed next to the desk _her_ computer was on, the blonde searched for her keys and her new packet of cigarettes within it and locked the only door leading into the office before shutting the blinds.

Then, she opened one of the drawers in _her_ desk to take out the ashtray she kept in there.

Tearing open the thin plastic foil, she eyed the cigarettes in the packet and decided for the one in the lower right corner to be the first of them.

Pressing one end between her lips, Lilly took the silver lighter she had gotten from Spike a few days ago and lit the cigarette.

Flipping the lighter shut, she took a deep breath, inhaling the smoke deeply.

_I...I..._, she shook her head no at the one particular thought she had about Brian, telling herself that it was not true and that she could not honestly think of him like that, _why the hell does he treat me like a damn wardrobe! Take that drawer for the adult, take that one for the child. I'm a damn teenager, for fuck's sake, I'm neither nor. I work like an adult, although he says that I'm a child. Why don't I get any support from him, then? Children don't work like adults, yet, here I am! He shall make a fucking decision! Child or adult, pick one! What do you want me to be,Brian! You want me to behave like an adult? Fine! But then, forget about your rules, cos adults don't get any rules by their older brothers! I...he...fuck!_

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I'd be very grateful for some reviews!

Thanks for reading!


	6. Wanted: Reassurance

So, another chapter...I know that I should actually not concentrate on the story but on my essay, but...I'm just trying to avoid writing that essay. I haven't even started, yet, and I got only three weeks left...I'm busted!

Have fun reading!

Please review!

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**Wanted: Reassurance**

Closing the window the monitor of the computer showed her, Lilly let her eyes wander over the garage. From her desk, she had a good view on pretty much each activity happening within the working area and the drive. Of course, she could not see the backyard, yet, she had figured a long time ago that watching all of the _visitors_ playing around in the pool or entertaining themselves in every possible way, would only distract her even more from work.

In the office, there was _her_ computer and _her_ desk, simply because the pc was used for nothing but her paint programmes and in the drawers of the desk was nothing but all kinds of pens, pencils, crayons and markers which, evidently, belonged to the girl. She was always eager to save each of her files as soon as possible after having drawn them on paper beforehand, due to her knowing that, once she did not keep up with it, she would lost track of her designs or it would be so much to type in that she no longer felt like doing so.

It was 4:54 in the afternoon, Tej's Garage had shut its gate for customers 54 minutes ago, nonetheless, by judging the noise coming from the backyard, Lilly guessed there still had to be about fourty people around, not willing to leave.

The next day would be Sunday, this meant no work for the crew, however, the guys usually used the time to work on their own cars. Diego had asked Lilly, if she would come to spray his car and the blonde had agreed, after all, Brian had not forbidden her to do her job. She would just go to Tej's, spray the car and return home. No fun, only work.

_Nothing the bastard can worry about_, Lilly rolled her eyes, hating the thought of being grounded for doing something for the first time that he knew of, when she was aware of the fact that Brian had, more than once, even gone so far to drive races while being drunk. She considered it unfair. She did not understand why her older brother forbid her to do things he was doing right in front of her without her complaining – most of the time. Normally, the girl would tell him that it was not alright to drive races when not being completely focused.

_Talking about Brian being a 'rolemodel'. Hell, I'd never get to see the outside of our apartment, if I decided to behave the way he does all the time. He just has this damn attitude! He shall fuck his bloody knee! I don't care for what he says, I didn't do anything wrong and tonight, I'm so gonna go with Mouse to Phoenix to have some fun! Brian will be at the races, therefore, he won't come home before two or three o'clock in the morning. Enough time for me to sneak out and back in. And the ballet course tomorrow won't be a problem, either. Brian always sleeps till it's afternoon. Class begins at nine and ends at twelve. But going to Mona's afterwards might be tricky. I'll go there with Marisa and Sugar, who'd both drive me home, I guess. So, if we stayed at Mona's for an hour, I'd be home a little after one o'clock. Of course, I gotta lock my room and leave through the window for Brian not noticing anything, but otherwise than that_, she shrugged, _I am a very lucky girl that my brother is so busy with the races and showing Rome around and them finding the proper place to open up a garage. This makes getting away so much easier for me, even easier than it already was before! Although, I really need to think about something considering Monday and Tuesday. I got ballet on Monday and I actually wanted to go to Salsa on Tuesday. And, of course, the basketball match in the evening! This will be tough but I'll manage, I always did before and I'll do now. My only problem right now is Brian. I'm mad at him, mad like I haven't been for some time, but I can't do anything against it! I'd like to piss him off so very much, right now, however, this would only equal more grounding! I swear that, if I don't get to let my anger out by dancing every day from now until Wednesday, I'll do something to him he's gonna make me pay for. I can't wait for the glorious day when I will finally turn eighteen and be able to live on my own. Well, I guess I'm already able to live on my own, just not allowed. Big difference, there, cause, although being able to do pretty much everything necessary for survival, I'm not allowed to do it. Because of Brian. My big brother. The bastard who grounded me.Grounded me for doing something he does himself each week!_ The blonde girl picked up her bag lying on the floor next to her desk. She looked into it to check whether or not the contents were still the same than they had been this morning. So far, Lilly had smoked two cigarettes, today.

_And only because of Brian!_ After having taken the carrier of the bag over her left shoulder, she switched off the computer and was about to leave the office when she saw a person approaching the little room.

_Speaking of the devil_, she thought, eying Brian how he walked into the working area of the garage. By now, his gray trunks had dried and he was wearing his orange shirt again.

Lilly shut the door leading into the office from the outside, waiting for his reason to come over.

"Hey",he stopped a yard in front of her, "you done with work?"

"Yeah, almost",she replied, her voice indifferent, "I still gotta talk to Tej about some things."

"Okay, so",the man shrugged, "you'll just do that and go home, then?"

The blonde bit her tongue, knowing exactly what her brother had implied. He had not only asked her, if she would just do that and go home, then, no, he had asked her, if she had nothing else to do before going home, like apologizing to him.

"Yeah",she said while beginning to stroll lazily into the direction of the backyard, "I'll just do that and go home, then. Why?"

"Nothing",Brian narrowed his eyes the moment he followed her.

_So, she's still pissed and she doesn't want to apologize to me. Great! I bet she won't approve when I want to go home together with her. Oh man, I know her well enough, she needs some more time. Maybe this evening or tomorrow, she'll realize that I'm right on this. She's sensible enough for that. It was just the surprise that made her angry at me, I guess, cause I didn't say anything when we came home this morning. At least, she's not really bitching around, she's merely acting like some one who's pissed off, she'll come down soon, though. I hope, _Brian watched how his sister entered the backyard, immediately searching for Tej still sitting on one of the white chairs, yelling through his megaphone at the people on the jet-skies.

Slowly, Lilly went over to her employer, whereas Brian looked around, seeing many others having their eyes on his younger sister's body.

Today, she had tucked her hair underneath a baseball hat, therefore, the curves she had to offer were not covered the way they were when she wore her hair open or braided.

Several men eyed her as though she was prey and they the predators. The blonde did not appreciate them lusting after her. Several women began to whisper things to each other, aware of the fact that the guys were no longer paying attention to them but to the teenager, even if it was only for the split of a second, because nobody wanted it to become too obvious what they were truly thinking of the girl. They were afraid. Of Brian. Each of them knew just how protective he was about his baby. The women did not dare to talk shit about her due to them not wanting to lose their chances with him, while the guys were fearing the older brother's wrath. He would definitely kill anybody messing around with his baby.

Eventually, Brian saw Lilly stopping next to Tej who pulled her onto his lap by taking one of her hands gently ino his. He put down the megaphone he had been holding and, all of the sudden, Lilly smiled at him.

Brian frowned. He had not seen his younger sister smile only once today and now, she was giving Tej one of her most charming and happy ones which Brian had not been receiving for over a week.

Apparently, Tej must have said something amusing, the young man could merely see his friend's back, but his younger sister cracked up in a fit of laughter.

Somehow, this picture made Brian feel strange. He could not quite put his finger on it, yet, there were definitely some emotions moving inside of his chest. Not being able to categorize them, the man tried to push them aside and joined his friends.

"...so I'll come tomorrow to spray Diego's. Don't worry, ya know that I'll write down the paint I used for it",Lilly told Tej.

"Ah, drop it, Chica, my crew, I dona worry",Tej grinned, "I really like that hat o yars, ya know? Kinda Urban, Hip Hip, suits ya well."

"What do you want me to do for you, Parker?"The girl leant forwards, the weigh of her upper body supported on her arms. She was pushing herself off the arm rests while raising one of her eyebrows questioningly.

"I want nothing but a happy Chica",he responded.

"Yeah, right",Lilly rolled her eyes, leaving the man's lap, "I'ma go home, then."

"Got yarself a date at yar party? Alright,"his dark eyes sparkled.

"Maybe",she smiled again, "see ya."

"Soon, girl",Tej watched the girl walking back into the garage, past her older brother whom she did not even seem to acknowledge. The blonde came over, sitting down on an empty chair standing next to Tej's.

"Have ya seen the shit she did to Shane's ride? That's some tight, dawg, blowing off, I tell ya, gonna get lotsa looks",Tej sensed the tension in his friend, therefore, he tried to ease it somehow by talking about a topic certainly being able to distract the other man: another reason for him to be proud of his younger sibling. Brian just loved to show her off, his pride always seemed to grow whenever somebody would mention her having done a good job.

"No, man, haven't seen it, yet",the blonde rubbed his hands, eying the jet-skies.

"What's it with ya guys, today, man? She ain't like that only cos she's red."

Brian shook his head no. "Ya wouldn't understand, man, ya got no younger siblings. She's my sis, I know her, I'll manage."

"If ya say so",Tej shrugged, taking a sip of his Corona, "she got me 25 at Rigo's, today. Marco said dey had some new rides, man, some Chica might like."

"So?"The blonde looked at him as though he was waiting. "Why ya telling _me_? Her ride, her choice. She never wanted anything different."

"Whoa, bruh, y'alrigh'?"He eyed the other one suspiciously. "Am I talking to Bullitt, here? The man who would get'er a toy in a sec? The man who's been about to win a fucking car for over ten damn times? That Bullitt?"

"Yeah, man, y'are",Brian cracked a half-hearted smile, "but there are no good rides around town, right now. Just your everyday shit that ya can't get around the next best corner, nothing special there."

"Waiting for the goodies, righ'? Our girl deserves some special, though."

_Well, man, you don't know that my baby's grounded. As for the deserving part, maybe in a week or so, after she made up for the mistake, then, I can think about getting her a car, again. I gotta get her something special, though, something unique. If I got her a car now, she would only get the impression of me being sorry for the grounding, but I ain't. She didn't follow the rules, so there she goes._

"I'll give it some time, now that Shane's got his own, she might want one, too",Brian leant against the back rest of his chair, "she won't wanna stay behind, ya know?"

"Ai, I know that, man",Tej grinned, "have ya heard about the action earlier? When Suki's bro was giving her some fire?"

"Yeah, Jimmy told me. Seems like he got her quite mad."

"That kid was getting everybody mad, dawg! But he backed off after she's done with him. Big boy's been all nice and silent, then. Fortune is, we got done with his baby, today, so he won't be freaking on us on Monday."

"Yo, he riding tonight? I could use the cash",Brian's eyes gleamed evilly.

"Yeah, man, he's in the fith."

The blonde looked at his watch, then around to see the party in Tej's backyard slowly dying down.

"I gotta go, bro, catch some sleep for the night, ya know?"He rose from his chair.

"Gotcha, dawg, see ya later",Tej watched the other man leaving, before picking up his megaphone standing next to his right ankle.

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_Home sweet home_, Lilly rolled her ice blue eyes while climbing up the stairs to the apartment, _he's better not annoying me here, too. I still gotta figure out how to get to Phoenix. I'll just send Mouse a message. It was a good move not to tell Brian anything about me owning a cell phone, that way, he can't forbid me to use it!_

The girl was about to open the door of their apartment, when something caught her attention: a package standing on the floor right in front of the door.

She frowned and looked around before bending down.

On the packet, there was her name written in straight letters. Apparently, it was a hand writing, yet, it seemed like a professional calligrapher had formed the straight letters with black ink.

Holding the package in her hands, Lilly weighed it. It was not all too haevy, not even a pound. It was the size of a shoe box. She shook it and heard some rattling on the inside.

"Wht the fuck...?"The blonde eyed the item suspiciously. It was addressed to her, however, there was only her name written onto it, not her actual address and she could not recall ever having seen this hand writing.

"Who would send me a gift?"She murmured while unlocking the door. "Who would send me a gift? It ain't my birthday, I don't think I won anything, either, so what is this?"

By now, the girl had reached her room. After having locked her door to prevent Brian from coming in, she let her bag fall down to the floor, kicked off her shoes, took off her socks and sat down on her bed, the package in her lap.

"Why me and why now? Did I forget about anything? No, I didn't. Ah fuck",Lilly began to unwrap it, only to reveal a cream white box. The girl lifted up the cover.

"Now that's strange",she frowned. Within the box, there was a pair of shoes. A pair of black high heels. Black Manolo Blahnik high heels. Lilly gasped when seeing the silver imprint in the soles. So far, the blonde owned only two pairs of Manolos due to her knowing how expenisve they were, however, her Manolos made her feet look great and she could dance forever on them without her feet killing her.

"But who the hell would send me Manolos!"They even were her size!

Suddenly, the girl noticed a letter lying on the ground of the box. She putthe shoes aside before opening the letter.

Inside of the envelope, she found nothing but a folded paper and a little note saying '_Congratulations_'.

Still confused, Lilly unfolded the other paper which was a copy of her report card.

"O.Kay",she laid the papers back into the box, "this is definitely more than _strange_."

She eyed the shoes.

"Definitely more than strange, but then again, you can't put Manolo Blahniks into a category. Damn these are some hot! Yet",Lilly felt her inner Brian lecturing her. _You shall not accept any gifts, if you don't know where they come from._

"So what am I supposed to do? And how did this person get a copy of my report card? The only people having seen it are the guys, Suki, the others at school and...no, that was it, nobody else. Why would anybody want to get my report card? Who would have the possibili...",a thought occured to the girl's mind, however, she shook it off, "no, this can't be. It cannot be him, he ain't even out. He's in jail, his trial is in a coupla days, he wouldn't risk anything", Lilly bit her lower lip hard, "it cannot be him...but then again, he always sent me clothes...no, it can't be, no. The guy's outta my life. He's far away, locked up behind some iron. No, no, no",all of the sudden, the memories of Carter Verone touching her appeared in front of her inner eye", no, no, no, it can't be him, no! I'm only imagining this. Don't freak, Lilly, come down. Breath. Calm down. And even if it is from him, he only did it to get you react like this. He would want me to freak, so come down. Cool, now, come down, come down."

Lilly took several deep breaths, then, she put the shoes back into the box, closed it, folded the wrapping paper together, laid it on top of the box and picked everything up to put it down to the left of her bed, where the bed was not standing directly next to the wall but there was an empty space of about twenty inches between the bed and the wall because, at times, Lilly liked to sit down there for sketching or reading.

So, she just put the box there, not willing to worry about it right now.

_I have to get rid of it_, she thought, _later, when Brian's not around to notice. I ain't gonna keep anything might coming from him. Who does he think he is! I'll go to that trial, give evidence and that pervert's not gonna see the sun for some time...I hope. I know that he's gonna come out, one way or another. Brian knows it, too, but he doesn't talk about it in front of me. He wants me to feel safe. Ha, 'safe'! I'd feel safer, if Brian decided to discuss things with me. As a former cop, he still knows better about such things than I do. I should talk to him about it...later on._

Lilly leant back against her pillow when she heard the door of their apartment being opened and shut.

Brian had come home.

She listened.

He walked into his room, then, a little later, into the kitchen. Some glass rang, so she guessed he had taken a bottle out of the fridge. Several steps. Silence. The TV was switched on. Again, several steps. The sounds of the TV changed. What the girl supposed to have been a commercial changed into the sounds of revving engines and spinning tires.

_He must be playing Need For Speed, then_, Lilly started to take out the bobby pins holding her hat in place, laid them on her nightstand and did the same with her baseball hat. She felt tired.

_I better set my alarm before I don't get to write an SMS to Mouse in time, _the blonde girl leant over to her alarm clock, _it's almost half past five, we won't go till eleven. We might ride at eleven, but we'll still go into some bar before to Phoenix, I guess. So, let's say I sleep till seven or eight...yeah, that's enough. Coupla Cokes afterwards and I'm on. Yay, sleep, yay._

Lilly pushed the tiny buttons, set the alarm and cuddled herself into her bed.

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That's it!

Please review!

Thanks for reading!


	7. Wanted: Comprehension

Back to, back to, back to...life!

Yeah, I'm still alive! Ain't that just great!

Well, school kept me kinda busy, so I had to do without writing for some time, but now, there are only three exams left and I'll be done with it for this semester. Yeah!

And I wanna thank:

**nighttime writer**: let me tell you: at least I know where this is going! So don't worry, this story is headed somewhere and it'll become obvious within the upcoming chapters.

**Paulsgirlygirl**: at the time I wrote that chapter, I didn't know who sent hr the shoes, either, but now, I thought of it. Big surprise there!

**LettyTheRacerGirl**:this chapter is going to answer at least one of your questions.

**Kate**: what's up with you? Why aren't you answering my mails? Are you alright?

**stardina**: short but extremely appreciated.

**RiNgLeS**: Well, I just wanted people to be able to relate to the siblings somehow, so...I don't know, I just can't imagine them to be all coddles, ya know? Siblings are just not like that, at least not always, I'm speaking from experience.

**kady**: you could just forget my story by reading another? sniff teardrop

**Christiana Anderson**: here I am!

A big THANK YOU to all of the others who have reviewed, too, of course!

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**Wanted: Comprehension**

"So",Roman raised his eyebrows in annoyance, "are ya finally gonna tell me what the fuck is going on, or shall I beat ya up right now instead!"

It had already occured to him that something was wrong with Brian the moment, when he had seen his friend stepping out of the apartment building onto the sidewalk. Something was just not right with the blonde...

"Nothing's going on",Brian declared, yet, he did not meet the other man's eyes while doing so, hoping that, this way, his lie would stay unnoticed.

_But, OF COURSE, _Roman thought, _he denies it! Stupid punk ass!_

"Oh, yeah, _right_!"Dark vivid pupils glared at the blonde. "Ya look like shit, coz nothing's going on! Do ya think ya can fool me, man? Me, of all people! So, tell me now or tell my fist after I'm done eating!"

Brian managed a soft chuckle at that last comment. No matter how frustrated Roman Pearce was, he would never put anything above his food.

It was 10:53 p.m. now.

The men were sitting at a little table in a Mexican restaurant near Miami Beach. They had arrived there about one and a half hours ago, so they were almost done with eating...at least Roman. Brian had hardly touched neither his food nor the bottle of Mexican beer in front of him. His thoughts were somewhere else.

"It's just...ya know",he gestured with his hand through the air, as though trying to find the words he was searching for just by taking them from the oxygen, "it's...", he sighed, "it's Lilly."

So far, he had not told anybody about him grounding his younger sibling, especially not Roman due to the black man usually taking the girl's side...and Brian had a certain feeling that this time would not be any different.

"What's with her?"His friend asked while chewing on another bite of his peperoni burrito. "Ya not good with her staying at home? I swear, one o' these days, I'ma drag her ass outta there and make her drive. Everybody's telling me she runs it, man, so I wanna see it for fuck's sake!"

"No, it's not like that",although, in mind, Brian had to admit that, under normal circumstances, he would have agreed with the other man. After her grounding was over, he would make sure that he saw her driving and racing again.

"We just...", he shrugged before sighing, "we were, kinda, _arguing _when you called me to come down. So...I dunno, it was just...I don't know..._strange_, ya know, bro?"

"Why would _you people_ argue? Ain't ya supposed to be _The Great O'Conner Team_?"Roman's laugh died as soon as he had taken a look at Brian only to witness how serious the blonde was about this topic. "So, why did ya fight?"

"Well, ya know that she's been a little _edgy_, lately",the young man managed an ironic slight smile while regarding the half-empty bottle of beer in front of him, "so, she didn't take it all _too_ well that I grounded her for having driven when she knew exactly that she wasn't to. So, now, we're...",he puckered his lips, "not really at war, but fucking damn close to it."

"You did _what_?"It took Roman by much surprise to hear his friend saying those words, thus he let the fork in his left hand fall onto the plate, still being covered with one quarter of a peperoni burrito.

"It's no fair ya ground Kitten for something I did, man! I told her to drive me, man! This is...how could ya do such thing! Hell, she's sixteen and I tell ya, man, she wasn't even drunk!"

"Rome",Brian ran a hand over his face and over his short hair. He still had to get accustomed to the fact that he had gotten it cut. "I am her brother. I am supposed to raise her. I am supposed to be like a father for her. So, I am supposed to punish her, if she's done anything against the rules I set up for her. She told me she had had two beer that night. She's actually not even allowed to drink when I'm not around. Okay", he lifted his shoulders, "I could have coped with that. I know what Highschool parties are like, so she might have even earned some respect from me for not having gotten drunk, but she _drove_, Rome, and I cannot let that slip, cause if I do that now, what will be next? A tattoo? A piercing? Drugs? What Roman, tell me what? I just don't want anything to happen to her only because I close my eyes. Not even this one time."

"Have ya said that to her, too?"By now, Roman had forgotten about his meal and was leaning back in his chair, his muscular arms folded in front of his chest. He eyed the blonde man suspiciously. Somehow, he knew and felt that Brian was right – from his point of view – but, of course, from Lilly's point of view, he was completely wrong. The girl had merely tried to help Roman, yet, Brian had seen her breaking the rules.

_This one's tricky_, he had to admit to himself.

"Pretty much, yeah",the man gave a half-nod with his head, "I told her what she has done wrong and then, I grounded her till Wednesday. I should've actually made it Friday, but with vacations and everything, Wednesday is long enough, I guess."

"Why did ya _argue_, then?"Roman kept on questioning.

"She's mad at me for the grounding, I'm mad at her for not understanding",Brian sighed, "both of us had to blow of some steam, so...we argued."

"Don't worry, man",Rome reassured his friend when lifting his beer up to his lips to take a sip, "by the end of the week, ya'll be good again. And then, we'll get our baby a ride, now that's one for sure!"

"If ya say so, bro",Brian repeated his friend's action by swallowing a small amount of beer himself. He could even make himself smile at the thought of him and his baby being good again soon, yet, although he supressed the memory of their fight, it still would not leave him alone, because this arguement had been different than any other they had had in a long time. This time, Lilly had openly shown that she had been scared...scared of him hitting her...just like their father.

Flashback--------

It was a little after half past eight in the evening, when Lilly looked up from her drawing only to scowl.

She was thirsty and she did not have anything to drink in her room. So, if she wanted something cool and liquid, she would have to leave her room...and Brian might cross her way, but she did not want to see him, right now. Actually, the blonde girl did not feel like seeing him for an entire week, nonetheless, it would probably last another thirty minutes until Roman would come to pick Brian up...and actually, Lilly did not feel like waiting for so long, either, thus she got up from her bed, abandoning the drawing that had not helped her in the slightest kind of way to distract herself from her misery.

_Hopefully,_ she thought while standing in front of her full-length mirror, _he doesn't even acknowledge me, so that he doesn't notice these darn reddened eyes of mine!_

Lilly had set her alarm clock for quarter to eight, yet, she had already woken up at seven and she had begun to cry because of all the frustration that had been built up inside of her.

_Why's he treating me so unfair!_ She had buried her head into her pillow, careful not to make any sounds catching her brother's attention. _Why can't he accept anything I do? Why does he always put his word above anything else! Why can't he accept, just for once, that he ain't right about something! It's always the same! He's Brian O'Conner, Bullitt, King of the fucking Streets of fucking Miami, he canna be wrong...yeah, right! Damnit, why am I even crying because of that jerk? I...I...arghhhh...I need a smoke!_

After having smoked, Lilly had text messaged to Mouse when and where he would have liked to meet before going to Phoenix and her best friend had suggested they would see each other at 10:30 in front of a bar, about half a mile away from the club, called Ciula. It was their usual meeting place whenever they went to Phoenix. At first, they would have a drink or two at Ciula and then, they would do a little jog over to Phoenix to warm up their muscles for dancing.

Brian was just about to put on a dark red, short-sleeved button down shirt when he heard how a key was being turned in its lock and how a door was being opened.

_The lioness leaves her cave_, he mused wrily, while casting a sideway glance into the direction of the hall. He had left his door opened to a little extend, so that he was able to have a look onto his sister's door.

About two hours ago, he could have no longer distracted himself by doing anything like playing Need for Speed or watching TV, his thoughts had been too occupied with his younger sibling. He could not stand it, when she was mad at him, no matter if he knew that he was right! It was right to have punished her, he had done the right thing, so why could she simply not understand that!

Still, two hours ago, Brian had stood in front of his sister's door and knocked on the white-varnished wood, only to receive no answer. Of course, he had knocked again, but there had not been a single sound, not even a grumbled voice telling him to leave her alone.

Brian had suspected his baby to be asleep when she had not reacted to a third and final knocking.

Now, the moment that she was actually coming out of her room, he was given the chance to talk to her, but when seeing her, he felt himself hesitate. Maybe this was not the right time to sort things out. He would be leaving in about half an hour together with Roman and he knew from experience that proper talks needed more than thirty minutes. First, both of them would beat around the bush, avoidig the topic making them so angry at each other until one gave a comment that would cause the other to begin the accusing. Second, there would be lots of accusing and shouting and probably insulting until they had no energy left for doing so. Third, they would both sit down somewhere, regaining their strength and while this was taking place, they would always glare at each other until the glaring became glancing. Fourth, one of them would say something, no matter what, and this would be the start of a long, long talk, when they analyzed what exactly was going on. The fith and last part of their fighting was usually a very comfortable session of cuddling. The most interesting part of those fights was that, eventually, neither of them really apologized, yet, the other one knew that one was sorry. Unfortunately, at times, the third part could last several days. Several days of just not talking to the other and lots of glaring.

_Shall I approach her now or tomorrow?_ Brian wondered. _Tomorrow, I'll have more time for the matter and she will have calmed down by then, I hope. So, tomorrow it is. Tomorrow, I'ma talk to her._ When Brian heard the sound of footsteps within the hall, he could not suppress the urge to take at least one look at her to reassure himself that she was alright. So, he finished buttoning up his shirt and turned _casually_ around to straighten the covers of his bed. Of course, this way, his eyes _accidently_ swept over to where his little sister was just about to enter the kitchen.

She was wearing one of the outfits she usually put on for sleeping or lounging: an old white, belly-bearing tank top and some _Christina Aguilera 'Dirrty' panties_. That was what Brian called those damn tight fitting panties his younger sister took such great a liking in.

_Although,_ he rolled his eyes, _ever since she 'grew' some, pretty much everything is 'tight-fitting' in that fucking way no big brother appreciates. Fortunately, she ain't walking around in thongs like that, cause if I should ever see that...well, I'd probably never be able to look at her ever again without having this horrible picture in mind._

However, there was something within the pose of his baby when she was walking into the kitchen that did not seem right. Her body language might tell him to stay away, yet, her face...the moment the girl turned to her left to enter the kitchen, the light coming through the kitchen window cast shadows over her trades which made her appear like she had been crying. But as soon as Brian had noticed it, she had already vanished into the kitchen area.

_Maybe I should check up on her_, he bit his lower lip while his feet began to carry him through his door frame into the hall, _I just have to be careful. So, how to get this started?_

By now, he was standing in front of the door leading into the kitchen that, even though being little in size, still offered more space than necessary for two people.

Lilly had taken a bottle of Pepsi out of the fridge merely a couple of seconds ago, when she heard _somebody _coming out of his room into the hall only to stop right in front of the kitchen entrance and...nothing. He did neither say anything nor move, he just stood there.

Slightly irritated by her brother's behaviour, the blonde girl opened the drawer within which was an opener.

"Hey",she finally spoke, her voice even and low, however, to Lilly, this appeared to be better than her brother watching her and her denying that she knew.

"Hey",he blurted out, rather surprised by her beginning the talking, "I was just wondering",he scratched the back of his head in need for an idea, "if you have...seen my green shirt? You know, the one with the white seam? I can't find it."

"No, I haven't seen it",she responded, sighing exasperatedly on the inside. _At times, he really sucks at inventing stories._

"Okay, well, I just wanted to know...",Brian looked at his watch, "so...I'll be leaving in twenty minutes or so...go eat with Rome and then, some races...I don't know when I'll be back, so...is that okay with you? I just don't want you to worry, 's all."

"Course, it's okay with me",Lilly answered while walking past him into the hall, the opened bottle in her left hand, when some words escaped her mouth she had actually meant to keep to herself, "it's not like you're sixteen and I could ground you."

"Care to repeat that while looking at me?"The man narrowed his eyes, sensing how the girl tensed.

_Good for her_, his mind told him, anger dwelling up inside of him due to his sister not understanding and now daring to talk to him in this way.

_Holy fucking shit! _Lilly could not suppress the sudden shiver that went down her spine by the sound of Brian's voice which indicated him holding back his fury. So, maybe, she should not have said that and be done with it, but no...

_Now it's happened! Oh well, we would have yelled at each other sooner or later. Now, it's sooner. Just stick to your points, girl._ Then, she turned around.

"I said that it was not like you were sixteen and I could have grounded you", she took in a defensive pose when seeing him glaring at her. Lilly even managed to raise her chin a little as though challenging him.

"Where. The. Fuck. Is. Your. Problem!"Brian suddenly yelled at her. "You broke the damn rules! Hell, you've admitted it! So, _why_, _why_ can't you act like you're old enough to understand that this grounding is justified!"

"_Yeah, right_", she rolled her eyes, evidently pissed, "_and you're the fucking judge, or what_! Listen, I don't accept this soddin' grounding cause it _ain't_ justified, cause all I's doing was preventing Rome from having a damn accident! His arm's sprained and he had more drinks than me, so, tell me, _who_'s the better driver in that situation, _who_? I doubt it was Rome!"

"_Don'tcha dare talking to me like that!_"Brian shouted at the top of his lungs, anger taking over his body, causing him to move his hands wildly. While doing so, he accidently knocked the bottle of Pepsi out of his younger sister's left hand, the glass clashed loudly onto the panelled floor of the hall, and Brian stood there, in front of the girl, breathing harsh and obviously angry, his right arm stretched high up into the air as a consequence of him not having stopped its motion after having brushed against the bottle with it.

That was the moment when it happened.

That was the moment when Lilly flinched.

That was the moment when she was scared of him due to him reminding her of their father.

Lilly folded her arms over her belly, shut her eyes and started to shiver, awaiting the upcoming beating.

_Please, Daddy, don't, I'll be better, I'll work harder, please, don't, please, Daddy, please_, she heard herself in one of the many memories she tried to suppress so very hard. Her father had thrown his bottle of vodka to the ground to have his hands free...free for hitting her.

Although knowing that this was her brother standing in front of her, that he would never go so far to even raise a hand _against_ her, she would always become afraid of him when he yelled, also, if the yelling was not even because of her but something else. Brian was quite an impressive figure: 6'3 and a half tall, rather muscular…………..he could be very intimidating, especially if he was angry and for a girl that had once been beaten up by her father on a regular basis…………………Lilly hated it so much! There was no reason to be scared of Brian, yet………………..she was not shaking like she had always done it with their father, but she got silent, fearing to cause an outburst by chosing the wrong words.

Brian just stared at her, frozen in place, before he slowly lowered his right arm and tried to take his younger sibling's left upper arm gently into his right hand, yet, once she sensed the contact of skin, Lilly got suddenly aware of the surroundings again, thus she turned around and ran into her room in a break neck speed.

Inside of her room, she immediately locked the door and went out of her window to sit on the steps of the fire escape, trembling hands pressed against her forehead being covered in cold sweat. She cried like she had not done it in quite some time. She cried because she was angry at her father for doing this to her, she cried because she was angry at Brian for grounding her, but most of all, she cried because she was angry at herself for letting all of this happen.

_I could have prevented it,_ the blonde told herself, _I should have, I should have!_

"Lilly!"Brian banged his palm against the locked door. "Baby, let me in, please, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, please, open up, I'm sorry, believe me, I'm sorry, baby, please!"

He could not think of anthing else to say than that he was sorry. He had just crossed a line he had never intended to even come close to: he had scared his baby sister...just like...

_Just like him_, his mind told him as the young man put his forehead against the white door, no longer banging onto it but waiting for any kind of reply. However, he did not hear anything, not a single sound came out of the room he was standing in front of.

"Please, forgive me",he breathed out, feeling tears dwelling up in his eyes, "please, don't think of me like that, please, don't."

Innerly, Brian wondered whether or not he should go out with Roman this night, after all, his baby might need him to talk or to embrace her and to reassure her.

Everything he wished to do was to find a way to take away her memories and to replace them with something else, something better………………..something that would not make her be scared of him or any other yelling man. He just wanted to kill their father for having done this to her, but then again, he could not do that………………Lilly would not want him to, she would never allow him to bathe his hands in blood or guilt because of her, simply because she did not consider herself to be worth it. A fact that hurt him more than anything he had ever experienced……………..except maybe for the time when she had been bulimic, although, in retrospect, this had also only happened due to her low self-esteem.

Brian did not notice for how long he had been standing there, leaning against the door, when suddenly the door bell rang.

_Roman_, he felt himself torn back into reality and remembered that he had actually wanted to go out with his friend_, but I cannot do that now, can I? My baby needs me, right now, I cannot leave her, but then again...c'mon, O'Conner, you know your sister better than anybody else. She ain't gonna come outta there. She'll just keep herself locked up until she feels ready to deal with what just happened. So, if I stayed, I wouldn't see her anyways and tomorrow? Well, maybe tomorrow, she'll come out again, so that we can talk, but not right now...hell, I really fucked this up!_

Again, the door bell rang, this time, a little longer.

Some part of his mind advised Brian to stay, yet, some other part told him that it would be a waste of time if he did, because Lilly would certainly not leave her room again this night.

Eventually, the feeling of being useless became predominant; he could not stand it, thus, the blonde man decided to spend the night with his friend and racing.

Brushing his right palm against the surface of his sister's door, Brian sighed heavily before leaving.

End of Flashback--------

"Whad up?"Julian regarded his friend suspiciously as she flinched when hearing somewhere to there left some glass clashing. The entire night, the girl had been tense, snapping her head around once there were people yelling or, just like now, glass clashing to the floor.

"None, jus...dunno",the blonde turned her head to give him a half-hearted smile, "gotta deal, y'know?"

"Talk bou?"He offered her a warm smile while pulling her close to him in order to reassure her that he would not leave and listen to her.

"May, lae",Lilly rested her head against the young man's chest, seeking his protection from the feelings of irriation torturing her, "shou' go home."

"Lone?"Mouse raised his brows, the worry in his eyes and voice so obvious that he made the girl smile.

"M big",she stifled a laugh, "can go ba' lone."

"Course",her friend replied, but standing up from the pillows they had been sitting on, nevertheless. Without Lilly, he did not feel like staying and in her present form, he at least wanted to make sure that she arrived safely at her car.

Gently taking the girl's hand, Mouse began to guide them out of the club.

Lilly sighed. She had actually planned on having some fun this night, yet, her previous encounter with her older brother had changed all of that. She had merely left the apartment to distract herself, nonetheless, it had not worked. Wherever she was, she could just not forget what had happened and how it had touched her to know that, after all of those years, she would probably never be able to let go of the memories haunting her.

_Fortunately_, she thought while looking at her hand clasped into Julian's,_ I got him as my friend._

The entire time they had spent together, Mouse had not tried to push her into talking, he had merely observed her and used each chance to make her feel secure.

Evidently, he had noticed that something was wrong with her.

_Well,_ she rolled her eyes,_ it's not like there was much on tonight anyways._

After having left the bar to get tot he Phoenix, the teenagers had been rather surprised to find it merely half-filled. Usually, there were people everywhere and both of them had either to fight or to use some connections to get a proper seat on the many pillows, blankets and matresses all around the main dance floor. Of course, there were also some chairs and tables, but in general, Julian and Lilly avoided those, knowing how uncomfortable they happened to be.

The girl glanced at her watch once they had arrived at the main entrance: it was 1:57 a.m..

Several steps let up onto a parking space that belonged to the empty warehouse in which the Phoenix was situated. Of course, it was an illegal business, thus, nobody dared parking his car here, otherwise people might become suspicious. So, both of them had parked their cars about two thirds of a mile away from the warehouse.

Lilly welcomed the cool breeze surrounding them due to it soothing her somehow. She looked over the empty streets and the abandoned sidewalks, remembering that Moue had once told her that he would have never let her walk this way alone during the night and if she had tried to, he would not have allowed it.

The entire way to their cars, neither of them spoke. They did not have to. Julian knew Lilly would need some time before she would talk to him and he accepted this, while Lilly knew that her friend knew.

Finally, they had arrived at their cars.

The young man guided the girl to her '98 Mitsubishi Eclipse. Actually, it was not her car, but one Tej had not sold, yet, thus, he had given the blonde the keys, so that she could use it whenever she needed to.

Lilly had figured out along time ago that Tej had not really finished this sentence, but had wanted to add "whenever you need to get away for some time." And each time she used it for driving to the clubs or to the beach in order to surf, she could not be more grateful for this gift.

"G'night",Mouse said as she sat down on the driver's seat.

"Night, Mouse",she smiled shakily at him before closing the door and starting the engine. Lilly waved her friend a last goodbye and then, she drove back to the apartment.

_So, now, I gotta bring the car back to Tej's, then, I gotta climb up the damn fire escape, get into my room, change, pray that Brian isn't home, yet, so that I can shower and...no, that's it. I already got my clothes for ballet packed and I cleaned the floor from the remains of the Pepsi bottle, _suddenly, the girl yawned,_ fuck, I'm tired! Better switch on the radio before I fall asleep!_

Once the music filled the inside of the car, Lilly relaxed a little. She would deal with her emotions concerning the argument with her older brother later. She was too tired to do this, right now.

Unfortunately, she was also too tired to notice a car following her...

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Thanks for reading!

Please review!

Djaly


	8. Wanted: Sound

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!

NO SCHOOL FOR SIX WEEKS!YEAH!

I'm kinda happy. I hope that I'll be able to finish the story during my vacation period. Haha, I'm so funny, I'm NEVER gonna get this done...aaaaahhhhh!

Oh, well, here comes a new chapter. I'm telling you now, the last lines are important, always try to keep them in mind when reading later chapters!

Special thanks goes to:

**'Mysterious three period person' **:Thank you very much, I know I suck at updating but I'm trying.

**nighttime writer **: Soon is such a relative word...I give my best to update still this month, really!

**TamPhuoc **: How did you like "RNB"? Which scene was your favourite?

**kady** : You haven't forgotten me sniff that makes me very happy

**RiNgLeS** : Yeah, I like cliffies...and here's another one just for you evilgrin

**Marie Crosby** : PLEASE, don't hurt me crouchaway I'll try to update sooner, there's just this damn thing called inspiration that I'm missing right now...don't hurt me, I'm a really nice person, really!

**ScaryChick** : I have already thought about doing this, but honestly, I'm also already working on my sequel to 2Fast 2Furious – it'll include Lilly, of course – and some other one shots set after "Wanted".

And another big THANK YOU to all the others, who read this story but don't have the nerve to review.

Have fun reading this one, 'kay?

Disclaimer: The Lyrics are taken from _Who the Fuck Is Alice_ by _Smokie_.

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**Wanted: Sound**

It was half past one in the afternoon when Lilly strolled silently into the kitchen to prepare lunch. So far, the day had gone by as normal as any other Sunday within the blonde's life since she and her brother had _moved_ to Miami.

She had gotten up early in the morning to attend to her ballet course at nine o'clock. To the girl, dancing had felt like a burden being taken from her shoulders. She had just lost herself into the dance, the music, the rhythmof her body and she had been able to forget about everything occupying her mind at the moment. The grounding, the fight with Brian, the upcoming trial...everything had seemed so clear to her because she had not thought at all, only felt and within the emotions flowing through her veins, she had found relief.

_I'm pathetic_, Lilly smiled while searching for the ingrediants she needed for lunch_, but it's true. In a way, I could let go. No worries, no stress, just peace. I always laughed at Teresa when she told me that a Jeté was able to make a dancer feel like she was flying...that it would be like an ultimate experience, but now, I understand. I understand better than I ever thought I would._

The young woman took a medium sized pot out of a cupboard to her left and put it into the sink before turning on the water. There was only the sound of the running water filling the air, except maybe for a random noise every now and then, which was at a lower volume because of the window still closed.

_Although, on Sundays, it's usually a lot more silent than during the week_, Lilly turned off the jet of hot water, then, she lifted up the three quarter filled pot only to set it on the stove. Having activated it, she was already searching for another pot, so that she could begin to make a sauce. Today, Lilly had decided, they would have pasta with a tasty cream sauce. Once she had found a proper pot, she put it on the stove as well before sitting down on her chair and leaning back.

_I should call Mouse later on to tell him that I'm good, now_, she sighed_, last night, I really was a wreck. I gotta thank him somehow. Hmm, what could I possibly do to make up for this? Of course, he'd never blame me for anything like this, but still...the night could've been more fun, if I'd been alright. Oh well, I'm still not completely alright, I guess, at least I wasn't before the course started. Marisa took one look at me and immediately asked me what had happened. Apparently, last night, she was at the races together with Alex and noticed Brian 'behaving strangely' like she referred to it, _the teenager smiled,_ yeah, my mommy's always been one to acknowledge whether somebody's okay or not._

Lilly had met Marisa for the first time at Tej's garage due to her being Alex' girlfriend. She had at once taken a liking in the Hispanic, because the woman was a rather motherly type. She had a beautiful warm smile, a peaceful slender face, large liquid brown eyes with a certain sparkle in them that always gave Lilly a feeling of reassurance and acceptance. The twenty-four-year-old also had two and a half feet long, dark brown wavy hair, which seemed almost black, and she usually dressed in very sexy dresses or skirts without looking cheap; they did not cling tightly to her body in order to attract man, nonetheless, only by hearing her musicial laughter, she often received appreciative stares or smiles...much to Alex' dislike.

Then, after this first meeting, they had seen each other again at The Club, where Marisa was also participating in the ballet and sometimes in the Salsa or Tango courses, yet, she visited only the latter together with Alex. Of course, Lilly had asked Marisa not to tell anybody that she was dancing and after having explained to the brunette why without hesitating, the woman had told her that her secret would be safe with her. It had, for some reason, not felt bizarre to Lilly to talk to this stranger about her past and that moment, the blonde had realized that Marisa was special.

One day, when Sugar had decided it was time for Lilly to go out with her into the clubs, they had gone shopping together with some of Sugar's friends she had wanted the girl to meet. Among those friends had been Marisa, who happened to be, just like Sugar, a Diamond Dog. Ever since that afternoon, Lilly had gotten to know the Hispanic way better, she had even spent some nights at Alex' and Marisa's already. Although having other female friends like Sugar, V and Lola, the girl felt the most drawn to Marisa whenever she sought a listener or good advice. Eventually, she had also begun to call Marisa _Mommy _whereas the older woman referred to her either as her _baby_ or _Puppy_.

A grin spreat over Lilly's face as she stood up from the chair to open a package of noodles to let them dive into the water that was now boiling. Somehow, she always grinned when thinking about her mommy.

_But, unfortunately,_ Lilly rolled her eyes while lowering the heat of the stove_, not everybody's sharing my point of view...like Suki, for example._

Till the date, Lilly was not capable of understanding, why the Asian held a grudge against Marisa. Naturally, Suki would never insult or snap at the other woman, yet, this was merely a consequence of her refusing to talk to the Hispanic more than was necessary. She might exchange an off-handed greeting, but that would be everything. Lilly had figured out that Suki felt threatened by Risa, due to her drawing lots of attention to herself, even though she did not do it on purpose, it just happened by the way people were attracted to her lovely and warm appearance.

_However, Suki can just not stand being out-shown by anybody, not even by her own friends_, the blonde shook her head no,_ hell, I'm having fun when I see one of my sisters enjoying some attention, but then again, I don't think Suki and her friends are as close as we are._

Then, the blonde started to pour the ingredients for the sauce into the other pot before taking out a little knife to slice some field mushrooms.

_After lunch, I'll have to leave for Tej's to spray Diego's and come back right away, once I'm done. That's gonna take me about an hour or maybe two, I guess, so I'll return at, hmmm, four or half past four. Of course, I'll have to stay the rest of the day within my room, so that I can avoid Brian, who's probably leaving tonight for dinner and races. Well, if I'm lucky, I'll manage to watch a movie even though TV is actually forbidden, right now. Grounding really requires a great sense for organizing everything!_

While slicing the mushrooms, the girl noticed how quiet it actually was within the kitchen, thus, the switched on the radio.

_"Radio 21, the best from the eighties"_, she immediately heard a female voice. Although Lilly preferred Black and Hip Hop, she had to accept that Brian did not know what to do with these types of music. To him, the only _real_ music was Rock or Metal but the teenager could cope, after all, she had grown up with _his _music and she really thought that it was great, yet, she just...

_I've just got a different taste in music than he does. Oh well, whenever we're in the same room, I'll listen to whatever station he picks out, still, when I'm alone...I don't feel like listening to Hip Hop right now, though. Dancing ballet to Ghettomusick by Outkast and then driving with The Black Album by Jay-Z blasting out of the subs will do enough till I'm at work.I so gotta get that new album by Outkast...I think, I'll have to use the computer Tej's put up in the lounge and do some serious downloading...once this fucking grounding is over and I got enough time for it!_

The young woman rolled her eyes, before going back to her task, in the meantime, she began to sing along with the radio. _I Was Made for Lovin' You_ by _KISS_.

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Brian lay on his back in the middle of his king size bed, arms folded behind his head, covers down to his hips to let his bare chest feel the soft breeze coming in through the opened window. He was facing the ceiling, busy thinking about the current situation.

Last night, Roman had not been the only one to question Lilly's grounding. No, except for his best friend, there had been Suki, Shane, the entire crew of Tej's Garage and, of course, the big boss himself. Lately, Brian had started to have an eye on Tej because the other man seemed to have gained more influence on Lilly than it was good for him. If Tej did anything to undergo the blonde's authority in this case of grounding, Brian could not guarante that he would live. It already bothered him that Lilly was spending so much time with Tej anyways. He feared his baby might get involved into business that should not be hers and with Tej, risks were high in regard of his _connections_ to many people in Miami and elsewhere.

_I'll have to wait_, the man sighed, _wait to see how this works out. If Parker tries anything, he's gonna be a dead man, but I still gotta find a way to make my baby spend more time with me than she does now. Okay, grounding her may not be the best solution to show her, how much I actually love her, yet, I just had to do this. I'll ask her, if she wants to watch 2Fast 2Furious together with me tomorrow. Hell, yeah, it's against the grounding, but it's only this one evening, afterwards, she's right back at being grounded. I gotta admit, though, I'm pretty much using her status of restricted freedom against her. She'll be willing to come with me only to get some fresh air, not because of wanting to spend time with me...not after yesterday evening, anyways. I so fucked this up! I wonder what she's thinking of me, now. She probably hates me for having brought up bad memories...my baby, my lil' one, I love you, I could never hurt you, don't you know that? Alright, so maybe I wanna go to the movies with her because I feel guilty! I just want my baby back, back the way she was before Verone...Verone. The trial is next week, then, I hope it's all over for us, we'll just go back to normal_, he snorted at that thought.

_Normal. What's normal to us? Let's just think about Jack's and...what was his name...Chico? Yeah, Chico. So, Jack's and Chico's accident._

In his mind, Brian reviewed the events of last night. The strange thing was that there had been two accidents. One would think Chico and Jack had crashed into each other, however, they had been in different groups. The young man felt a shudder running down his spine as he saw the picture of Chico's car going up in flames in front of his inner eye. He had been four groups ahead of Chico, who had survived by pure luck and was now lying in hospital. The car had not even crashed into anything, it had just gone up in flames as Chico had entered the home stretch. Jack had been in Brian's group, though, together with Alex and a guy named Pablo. This time, Brian had to admit, he had really been forced to fight for his victory. Alex had kept up with him the entire time, their fenders only seperated by inches. At the beginning, Pablo had been close to them, nonetheless, his car had soon reached its limits, so it had been Brian, Alex and SlapJack. After one of the last corners, Jack had no longer been at the leading duo's side, yet, they had not worried due to them having been too busy winning.

SlapJack's car had not been _toasted_ like Chico's, however, he had lost control somehow and collided first into a street lamp and as the car had turned as a consequence of the impact, he had also hit a phone booth.

_Two bad accidents in one night,_ Brian narrowed his eyes, _usually, we don't have more than one serious accident per month and now this. Strange, very strange. That demands investigations, not only by us but, of course, the cops will be informed and do some investigations on their own, so we gotta be even more careful, especially me. I don't think it would be very impressive on the youth welfare department, if they found out about me racing. Talking about bad influence on poor innocent Lilly. Though, it really is my fault that she races, so, no offense there. I wonder how she's gonna react to Shane's new girl. Hell, that chick has been over him all night, never paid any attention to him before, nevertheless, now that he's got a ride...and he lost his first race. And he was pissed at everybody afterwards. So pissed that he left...with his air-head. That boy's too ambitious, way too competitive for his own good. Alright with me, as long as he doesn't make this my or my baby's problem._

Brian craned his neck to look at his alarm clock. It was 1:52 p.m.. He had woken up when having heard his baby roaming through a cupboard in order to find a pot. This had been about half an hour ago, thus, the man figured out that lunch would be ready soon and he wanted to shower, so he might as well leave his bed now.

Once he had gotten up, Brian strolled slowly out of his room and stopped at the kitchen entrance to watch his baby sister stirring the contents of one pot. The little table was already set. Her voice caught him, as she sang along with the radio.

_Now she walks through the door, _

_With her head held high, _

_Just for a moment, I caught her eye, _

_As a big limousine pulled slowly _

_Out of Alice's drive. _

_Oh, I don't know why she's leaving, _

_Or where she's gonna go, _

_I guess she's got her reasons, _

_But I just don't want to know, _

_'Cos for twenty-four years _

_I've been living next door to Alice. _

_Alice, who the fuck is Alice _

_Twenty-four years just waiting for a chance, _

_To tell her how I'm feeling, maybe get a second glance, _

_Now I gotta get used to not living next door to Alice... _

_Alice, who the fuck is Alice _

Brian chuckled lightly, gaining his younger sibling's attention. She eyed him quickly, then, she turned back to the pots on the stove.

"Five minutes", she told him with indifference.

"I'll just shower. Won't last longer than five", he answered and waited a couple of seconds for her to respond, however, she made no attempts to do so, therefore, he continued his way into the bathroom, while Lilly finished preparing lunch.

_Just try not to think about what happened yesterday evening, _the girl said to herself, _he was merely mad at you, he wouldn't have hit you. He ain't Dad. And he was sorry. Really sorry. I shouldn't let him feel guilty. He didn't intend to scare the shit outta me, that's just not like Brian. It was an accident, if it hadn't been for the bottle, then, I wouldn't have freaked out._

After having taken down the pots from the stove, Lilly put them on the table and went into the hall. There, the blonde grabbed her keys, which she had laid on the sideboard, before leaving the apartment to get the newspaper from downstairs. Due to Brian showering, she did not suppose him to have heard her.

_Although, even if he heard me_, she shrugged, _I'm just fetching the paper, so there's no reason to argue. It's not like I'm having any fun here._

Once she had returned into their home, the girl noticed with a certain satisfaction that her older brother had indeed not come out of the bathroom, yet, so, she closed the door silently behind her back before entering the kitchen.

When the sound of running water stopped, Lilly had already sat down at the table, an open bottle of carbonated water with cherry taste in front of her, beginning to skip through the paper in search of anything interesting. Usually, politics, culture or sports wakened her curiosity, still, today, a special of three pages about the upcoming car fair gained her attention. Apparently, it had caused the entire city to be in some kind of fever; even at The Club, Lilly had heard bits of conversations about the show, some people had also walked up to her and asked her whether or not she would be working at Tej's Garage and about Tej's prices for this and that.

Lilly shook her head lightly no. Right now, at work, everything seemed to be about this car fair, especially because of the auto contest. Naturally, every racer wanted to show his or her ride off at that fair, thus, they had ordered Tej's services as soon as they had received the news. However, Lilly saw lots of overtime coming up within the next five weeks.

_So much for enjoying my vacation, well, I guess, if I do some begging, Tej may give me a day off every now and then once this damn show's over. Fortunately, he ain't one of those to accept every order he gets. He's always having an eye on his watch, so to speak. He would never accept an order, if he knew that we would have to work ourselves to death to get it done in time. Still, yesterday, he mentioned something about him wanting to employ some co-workers till the fair to help us. Hopefully, if he really does it, he ain't gonna take some morons and only the guys who really wanna do the job, _she rolled her eyes, _who know how to do the job. Let's just remember this one jock, Arthuro, oh my fucking God! Next to no knowledge about engines or anything besides, but, of course, he knew everything better than we did. And then, he smokes one in the storage room where we keep the NOS bottles...lucky me I only gotta see him at the races now. Tej literally kicked that guy out of his garage. It was really fun watching, though._

An evil grin managed to escape the teenager's lips, yet, it stayed unnoticed by Brian as he strolled into the kitchen, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips. There was still some water dripping from his hair onto his shoulders and the floor.

He took his seat opposite to his sister, whose head was hidden behind the newspaper – or a part of the newspaper. As the man looked down at his plate, he saw the major part of the paper lying there.

_So, she allows me to read something, too, _he thought_, how generous._

They ate, aside from the radio, in silence, a situation not really unsual for both of them, but the tension in the air let the siblings feel rather uncomfortable. Lilly hardly touched her food, whereas Brian could empty his plate while failing to concentrate on just one article in the paper.

Eventually, the girl rose from her chair and started to clear the table. She filled the remains of their lunch into some Tupperware® boxes, knowing that, at times, Brian liked to heat it up in the evening as dinner or also as lunch during the week, when his sister was at work.

The man watched her how she put the dishes and pots into the sink, then, she turned on the water.

_I might as well help her_, he shrugged innerly to himself before standing up. They kept their towels on a little plastic hook adjacent to the door, so that Brian checked the proper fit of the towel wrapped around his hips, as he took a step forwards to reach the hook and to grab one of the towels.

Even though knowing that his younger sister did not seem to have any problems with nudity – a fact alerting him very much – he was not as casual about it as she appeared to be, thus, Brian always made sure that everything was covered. What he detested most about Lilly's attitude was that she actually dared teasing him, whenever his lower regions reacted completely normally on certain...occasions. For example, in the morning; he had just gotten up, walked into the kitchen to see what his baby had been doing there and, after having asked him what he had wanted for breakfast, she had had the nerve to say the sentence, _"Oh, hey Woody, nice of you to join us. What you wanna have for breakfast?"_

Brian could not imagine from where Lilly had gotten this...this being so direct! Other girls would turn red and try to look anywhere but at that spot!

_She ain't normal, _he smiled lightly while drying up a pot, _she's never been anything else, so I don't have to worry, I guess._

Doing the dishes required just as much concentration as eating lunch...neither of them even made a sound apart from breathing, therefore, they tried to end this situation by drying up quickly.

After having taken care of everything, Lilly, finally, spoke.

"I'ma go to Tej's then", she did not look at Brian, though, "I promised Diego to spray his Acura, today. It'll take me about...an hour ot two, I think. I'm gonna come straight back after I finished, okay?"

The blonde girl did not even wait for her brother to answer, she had already left the kitchen when Brian sighed.

"Okay",he mumbled rather to himself before deciding that it was time to get dressed.

He had just entered his room as Lilly came out of hers again, now wearing her old, worn-out sneakers which would fall apart soon. In her right hand, she held her work bag, in the other, her keys.

"And Brian?" She did not bother to turn around while opening the apartment door. "Dry the floor, will you?" With that, she closed the door from the outside, leaving the man alone.

Sighing again, Brian looked at the floor in the hall. Apparently, he had left a little trail of water behind him after he had come out of the shower, however, the true reason why he was sighing, was that his sister had actually called him by his name, _Brian_, she never did this except for when she was mad at

him or very serious about something. In this case, the man thought, it might be both at the same time and he did not like either.

"So",he took a deep breath, "get dressed, then, clean the floor, then, try to keep yourself busy till baby is back, then, when she's back, pray to God for mercy."

The radio was still switched on. The sounds of _Papa, Don't Preach_ by _Madonna_ ran through the apartment.

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Lilly left the building and was immediately greeted by the hot light of the sun burning on her skin. In front of the house, the air was always a strange mixture of the scent of the ocean and the sand, still, the teenager preferred their little place at the beach to any other in the city and to a girl that had been brought up in Barstow and later in Los Angeles, the heat did not really matter.

_Although,_ she thought while looking skywards, _they said it should rain this night and the others have already told me that summer was the time when it rained most, so_, she shrugged, _let's wait and see._

The girl turned on her heel and walked into the direction of Tej's Garage, where she would meet Diego and perhaps also some of the other crew members. They considered it luck that, on Sundays, Tej closed the garage down _completely_, so there would be no party going on in the back yard, just the crew and their cars.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"_Yes, boss, she's just left the building_",a man in his mid-twenties let his eyes follow the girl. He had positioned himself about a hundred feet away from the apartment building and leant casually against a street lamp on the other side of the road. His lose clothes did not show any particular physical details but his rather high built. He wore sneakers, wide stone-washed jeans, a lose black shirt, sunglasses and a baseball hat. His tan skin indicated a Spanish descent, as well as the fact that he was speaking Spanish to the person on the other side of the line. The short sleeves of his shirt revealed that he worked out; his arms were toned and his hands appeared as though he could develop a strong grip. Now, he was holding a cell phone in his left hand.

"_She goes to Tej's Garage, I think_", he chuckled, "_must be a workaholic...pardon?...No, Sir, she's wearing normal clothes, the type she always puts on for work...the brother?...No, boss, she's alone...yes, she's definitely going to work, she's crossing the street, now...yes, boss, I'll wait and call, if anything happens...alright, goodbye_."

The man pressed a key and the connection was ended.

Before putting his mobile phone back into the pocket of his jeans, though, he regarded the shell for a minute. The shell was black and on the back of the phone, it showed the head of a white wolf. However, the image was disturbed by a deep crack running from the left upper corner down over the left eye of the animal.

"_Still gotta get a new one_",the man said to himself.

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Finally done.

THANKS for reading!

Please review!

Djaly


	9. Wanted: Answers

I wrote this chapter within two days! I'm very proud of myself!

So, I checked the Hits for 'Wanted' and I thought it was strange that Chapter 7 has got 60 Hits whereas Chapter 8 has got 70...the chapters between the prologue and the last ones have an average of 35 Hits...strange.

Anyways, thanks to all the 70 people who have read the last chapter, BUT ONLY ONE WROTE A REVIEW.

THANK YOU, STARDINA!

I know, the last chapter was kinda lame...

So, I called this chapter 'Answers' because when I read it over for the second time, I noticed that there are many questions in it...I think, I've never had so many questions in a chapter. Well, there's a first time for everything.

Have fun reading it, 'kay?

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**Wanted: Answers**

Slowly, Lilly turned the key she held in her hand to the right. She heard a _click_ as the lock opened and she entered the apartment.

Thoughts about the _accidents_ of the past night clouded her mind. Lilly needed answers or at least somebody whom she trusted enough to discuss this topic seriously with her.

"Brian?" The blonde girl called out just a little louder than her normal volume was. She had already closed the door behind her and walked into her room to take off her shoes, socks and to lay her bag on her bed.

"Yeah?" Her older brother was leaning against her doorframe, when she looked around. He wore his beige trunks and a blue shirt. To any other person, he might have appeared calm, however, Lilly knew him better than anybody else. Beneath this quiet surface, she could tell how tense he was, because he assumed that she was finally willing to talk to him. In a way, Brian was even right, but Lilly intended to speak with him about the accidents and neither about the party on Friday night nor about the grounding.

"Can we, like, talk about something?" She bit her lower lip. It was possible that Brian did not want to bring up the matter of recent events in the racing scene due to him not wanting his younger sibling to worry about it. Thus, now, Lilly had not mentioned the topic she wished to analyze with somebody.

"Okay",the man said almost immediately, although he saw his sister hesitating for a moment. Seemingly, she was not quite secure whether or not he would give in at her request and Brian was not able to understand why exactly; it was obvious that they needed to sort things out after yesterday evening.

"You wanna...?" He did a motion with his hand over his shoulder, implying that maybe they should go into another room to make themselves more comfortable.

"Yeah, that's...yeah",Lilly put her hands into the bottom pockets of her jeans and kept her eyes focused on the floor as she made her way out of her room. Brian had also taken a step back from the door and walked into the living room, a frown on his face. Something was definitely wrong with his baby, that much he could tell, still, he had this certain feeling that it did not have anything to do with either the grounding or their fight from yesterday.

"Brian?" He stopped at once and turned around to regard the teenager. She looked fine, however, there just was something...he could not point his finger at it, but it was there.

"Kitchen?" The girl asked him while entering the little room to the man's right.

_So this is going to be more serious,_ Brian thought while following her. Whenever they had to discuss a serious topic, the O'Conners chose to do this in the kitchen. Neither of them knew why they actually did it or when it had started, nonetheless, the habit had settled in perfectly.

After Lilly had left the apartment about _three_ hours ago – she had said she would only need one or two hours at a maximum – Brian had first dressed, then strolled around the rooms without knowing what to do until he had decided to play some more _Need for Speed Underground_. About an hour later, the young man had undertaken another attempt to read the paper, this time, successfully. When he had read the special about the car fair, he had been reminded that within the next days, he would receive an enrolment form via post and as a consequence to his registration, he would also get another form where he would have to fill in all the technical details about his car. The second form had be returned a week before the show would begin, thus, Brian would have to decide quickly what he wanted to be done on his Evo.

And, eventually, Lilly had come home.

He watched her taking a bottle of flavoured carbonated water out of the fridge.

"Do you want something, too?"She asked rather the fridge than him.

"Yeah, one Doc, please,"he replied and took the Dr. Peppe from her as she handed it over. Then, Lilly closed to door of the fridge, opened the bottle she held in her hands, but instead of drinking from it, she sat down on her chair and closed the bottle again while putting it on top of the table.

"What's wrong?"Brian folded his forearms on the table, behind the bottle of Dr. Pepper. The man could see how something was nagging on his younger sister and he hoped that by talking about it, she would feel better or, at least, more reassured than she was now.

"It's the...it's...I mean...",Lilly stared at her hands for a brief moment. How was she going to apprach this topic?

"It's about Jack and that other guy",she finally said and felt a wave of relief rushing through her. Looking at Brian, she saw him realizing that she wanted to discuss the accidents and not the grounding.

"About their accidents?"He questioned her. At her nodding, the blonde sucked in his lips. "You wanna know what happened exactly?"

"No, not really, I mean, the guys already told me everything, I guess, it's just...", the girl shrugged, "I just don't understand how this could happen. I don't know what to think of this. Okay, yeah, sometimes, we got accidents, pretty bad accidents, but two in one night, that's so...I dunno."

"You're asking yourself whether or not they really had _accidents_", Brian concluded. So, his sister's thoughts were going the same way as his and somehow, he could not supress a certain warmth dwelling up in his chest. She had sought someone to talk to about this, she needed answers she was not able to give, and she had come to him.

"Mhm. I don't know, if it's just been a coincidence or if somebody wanted it to happen", suddenly, the words would just not stop blurting out of her mouth, "I mean, why Jack and this guy? Okay, if they had been in the same group and crashed into each other, then, I wouldn't be suspicious, but they were in totally different groups, even the cash they rode for was separated by _dimensions_. Apart from that, I've never seen the guys hanging out together, so they don't seem to be friends of some kind. The problem is that the cops got the cars, now and we cannot investigate on our own. Today, Tej announced that, tomorrow, the police is even gonna come over to us to interrogate us about our work 'n stuff cause Jack is our customer. That other guy was usually at John's, so his crew will be busy hiding their nitrous bottles, too. Of course, I can understand that they have to do this, like, asking questions to find out what happened, but they're so gonna disturb us at work and we got lotsa work right now. Tej already said that he'll use some of his connections to get some information about the cars. Seems like Jack's been quite lucky, though, he'll only be in hospital for about a week. That other guy is still in the intensive care unit."

Brian breathed out heavily as the fresh memory of Chico's car going up in flames appeared in front of his inner eye. He could only imagine what the driver had do endure now.

"Do you think it was one of us?"

"Hm?" The man looked up into his sister's face, showing a light sadness. He had missed her last question due to him having been with Chico in mind.

"Do you think it was one of us? That one of us sabotaged the cars because he or she has got a problem with the guys? I also thought it might have been because of the car show, you know? To prevent them from participating, maybe? I cannot really see that one of us would trait another like that because, well, if people find out, that person's never gonna get a tyre on the asphalt here in Miami ever again",she shook her head, making her bangs fall into her face which she tucked behind her ear at once, "I hate thinking like that cause everybody's gonna start that, now. They're all suspicious, now and soon, the charging's gonna begin...I don't wanna know what'll happen, then."

"I don't wanna know, either",slowly, Brian reached out with his hands and took hold of his sister's cold fingers. In order to soothe her, he rubbed his thumbs in little circles over the back of her hands.

"But what you said",he sighed, "it's a possibility. I don't like thinking about it, nevertheless, it may be true. It could be one of the racers. It definitely must be someone who knows the technical details and who is able to come close to the cars unnoticed. As for the interrogation, tomorrow, you don't have to worry, you're mainly responsible for the paint jobs and you know exactly that you don't have anything to hide. Except for the racing", Brian grimaced, "perhaps, you should keep that little detail for yourself. Cops don't like 16-year-olds driving races."

"Well, then, I'm lucky you're no longer in that business, hm?"Lilly forced a half-hearted smiled out of herself while regarding her older brother.

"There's something else, right?"He squeezed her right hand gently, hoping that she would not deny the obvious.

"I thought that maybe...maybe it was Verone",the girl said in an even voice, although not feeling like keeping her voice even. She had still not told her sibling about _everything_ that had happened while she had been near Verone. She had not even told the police. She just wanted to forget this man and what he had tried to do to her.

"Nah, I don't think so",Brian shook his head no, "if he went against somebody, then it would be Rome and me, and he knows what our cars look like, so he would've gone straight for those. Leading a private campaign of revenge against every racer in Miami is not possible, not even for Carter Verone, especially not when he's locked up. So don't worry, nothing's gonna happen. We'll work out whatever went wrong with Jack and Chico and think of a solution."

"Okay",this time, Lilly's smile really showed her relief. Right now, it was a plus that Brian had once been a cop. Of course, the girl knew that her attitude towards this topic would change as soon as Brian would interrogate her about something not worth worrying about. Then, the mixture of big brother and cop would make her want to hurt him...bad.

Lilly stood up from her chair, took her bottle and was about to leave the kitchen, when Brian grabbed her hands and pulled her onto his lap.

_Big ole cuddler_, the blonde teeanger could not fight the smile that tugged at her lips as her older brother laid his arms around her waist, rubbing his hands up and down her back, while Lilly managed to lay her head against the area between his chest and shoulder.

"Everything good, now?"Brian mumbled softly into her hair.

"Yeah, 's okay", she snuggled deeper into his shirt, "thank you."

"You're welcome",he replied, kissing her hair and made her laugh lightly, "you're my baby, okay?"

"Okay", Lilly knew that, this moment, they had said sorry to each other for what had happened yesterday evening. It was okay, now, even though they had not talked about it, both of them felt a burden being taken from their shoulders.

Eventually, the girl sighed and wiggled slowly out of her older sibling's arms what gained her a moan as complaint.

"Lemme get up",she whined.

"No", he pouted, "comfy."

"M too heavy. Lemme get up, now."

"Who's the person that keeps on telling you that you're too heavy for my lap!"Brian eyed her sternly. "I think I should have a talk with this someone, soon."

"Bri-an",Lilly kept on struggling and finally, he let her go.

"You don't love me anymore",the man looked ar her chargingly.

"Well", she shrugged, "ever since you've gotten your hair cut..."

Lilly let it hang there, a mischivious gleam in her eyes, which Brian returned.

"You're evil",he told her.

"I know", she quipped back before leaving the kitchen to go into her own room, while Brian merely leant back in his chair and took a sip of his Dr. Pepper.

_We're good, now_, he thought with a smile,_ everything's going back to normal. I still gotta ask her about watching 2Fast 2Furious with me, but I can do that later today or tomorrow. Seems like she's no longer mad at me. That's the way it should always be between us. But then again, nah, that would be way too boring. I hope she won't worry when she finds out that tonight, I'm racing. Rome comes at eight, and now, it's,_ the man looked at his watch, _5:23, so I got lotsa time till I gotta get ready. Maybe I should sleep for another hour or two? Yeah, that seems like a good idea._

Brian rose from his seat and was about to walk into the direction of his room, when he remembered that, at times, he did not react to his alarm clock but kept on sleeping. Thus, he went to his sister's room. The door was shut, so he knocked lightly.

Inside her room, Lilly had just wanted to check whether or not her pointe shoes had already dried out properly on the spot near her window as she heard the knocking. Quickly, she put them underneath her armchair, on which she was sitting, careful that they were not visible.

"Yeah?"The girl finally answered. She tried to look casual while her older brother entered.

"Hey, I just wanted to tell you that Rome's coming around at eight and we'll head out, so, uhm, I'd like to sleep some before he's here and you know that alarm clocks don't always work with me, so could you wake me up at 7:30 ?"He scratched the back of his head due to him feeling uncomfortable after having told his younger sibling that he would be racing this night.

"Okay, I can do that for you",she nodded. The thought that he would drive did not please her at all, yet, Lilly knew just as well that Brian would not feel intimidated by the recent events and go on racing.

"Thanks",he grinned and left the room.

Immediately after the teenager heard him closing the door to his room, she bent down to reach for the pair of pointe shoes under her armchair.

"Seems like they're dry",she commented as she ran her hands in and over the soft satin. Then, Lilly rose to her feet, so that she could put the shoes into the drawer where she kept her underwear. She had figured out a long time ago that her brother would never dare searching through her underwear, thus, it was the perfect place to keep things hidden from him.

Afterwards, the blonde opened her work bag and took out a sketch pad to continue working on some new car designs.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"_I'ma beat'em all!_"Roman yelled as he got out of his car. Today, his doctor had taken off the splint and apparently, the man was eager to use his newly gained freedom to win races. So far, he had already won three times, although he still intended to win more by betting.

Brian whooped loudly when he saw his best friend receiving his winnings from Tej. Even though Jack's and Chico's accidents had left a certain amount of tension lying in the air, it had almost completely vanished after the third group had started. People told themselves that accidents happened every now and then, only to be able to enjoy this night's races.

Putting his free hand into the pocket of his jeans, Brian felt a bundle of cash beneath his fingers. 42,000$ to be exact. He had participated in three races. The first group, the third group and the fourth. Although Roman had insisted on them driving against each other, the blonde had explained to him that they needed as much money as possible to open up their own garage. Of course, the money Verone had been so nice to let them have after having worked for him would be sufficient enough, however, both of them considered it necessary to have some money left, just in case they might need it.

The young man shook his head no with a light grin on his face while Roman teased the other men in his group for having lost to him. Afterwards, he went over to the improvised bar they always built up at the races and ordered a drink.

"You can't just leave'em alone, can ya, bro?"Brian asked his friend who walked up to him. "I tell ya, makes ya look like a baby."

"Ya up for a bashing, man? I'm all in for it, still gotta return the time in that damn pool to ya",Roman sounded seriously, yet, the laughing gleam in his eyes traited him. Together, they went over to where Brian and Tej's crew had parked their cars. It seemed as though the guys would be in some kind of discussion.

"No man, we gotta go for something more classy. Mustang, that's my vote",Jimmy took a sip of his drink while leaning back against Marco's car.

"Mustang!"Alex rolled his eyes. "Our girl may like _horse power_ but not _horses_! And, c'mon, _Mustang_? That ain't it, James, no."

"I'm against Mustang, too",Diego said, "I canna imagine she'd like it. Y'all know her thing with bodies. She likes'em rather round. We should really go for somethin' hot, like, sports car. How about Porsche? Nice lil' whip."

"Yo, what's all of this about?"Brian's question interrupted the men at once. They all regarded him and Roman rather stunned due to them not having noticed them approach.

"We're thinking of a car for Chica",Jimmy answered him eventually, "after today, she's really got to get one, man."

"Why?"The blonde frowned. "What happened today?"

Strangely enough, it was Marco who spoke first. "Today, Shane and his _girl_ came over because he wanted to work on his car. Well, that's what he said",the Italian shrugged, "apparently, he was only into showing off in front of that chick, ya know? Show her how _good_ he was with cars and everything. So, he had just closed the hood when he slipped and scratched with the wrench once across the entire left side of the hood, ruining the paint job, of course. Believe me, the only thing he wanted to do right then was to kick himself. He knew that he had screwed up, but even worse, while he may be able to fix a problem with his engine, he ain't capable of spraying a car the way Lilly can, so he told her, he didn't ask, no, he _told_ her when he saw her having finished Diego's ride that she could do his car, now. She stayed completely calm, eyed his air-head briefly and took a look at the scratch. Then, she asked him, if he could wait until tomorrow because she had told you that she would be home at four and that this might take a little longer, 'cause the job had been rather complicated. That was when I thought I wouldn't hear correct anymore. He began to tell her that it wouldn't matter if she went home now or in an hour, that she should be rather grateful because of the grounding so she could stay out longer and then, he even teased her about having been caught driving drunk. He also went on how important it was for him that his car would look perfect at the races this night and, now comes the best, _that he was sure she would understand him as soon as she had her own car_",Marco shook his head no, "I swear, that moment, I wanted to smash him against something. But Lilly was totally cool, she took another look at the hood and then, told him that this would cost him about 300 bucks because there was no official order and it was Sunday and she had to mix the paints again and that the time, she would have to spend waiting for the paint to dry, was just a waste for her. She even added that it shouldn't be a problem for him to pay, after he had been so successful last night. Of course, she knew that he had lost. The boy's head was all red with anger, still, he needed her to do it, so he bit his tongue. Definitely been better for him."

"That's why, this afternoon",Alex explained, "we started setting up a list with words describing her and try to find a matching car. It's really tricky, though. Till now, we have come to the conclusion that it should either be something real classy or a fresh sports car."

"He really said that to her?"Brian's voice implied his anger. Nobody talked to his sister like that. "Well, maybe that's the reason I haven't seen him all night."

"Could be",Jimmy shrugged, "he's been avoiding us, too."

"I say an Eclipse",Roman suddenly stated, gaining looks from everybody else, "we can still beat the shit outta him later! I say an Eclipse for Kitten."

"And you don't just say that cos it's you're riding one, too?"Diego raised one of his eyebrows skeptically. "It shouldna be a car everybody can get. And don't take it as an offense but it should be something more special than an Eclipse."

Brian was silent while the others continued arguing about the right car. He could not believe that Shane had really said those things to his younger sibling, when she had truely been there for him every time he needed help either at school, with cars or...in general. What bothered him even more was that Lilly had not mentioned it towards him, not even as though it had been nothing but unimportant. His baby needed a car, he knew that, still she refused even talking about it with him or anybody else.

_Although_, the blonde puckered his lips, _now, that I got some help, she may give in to it. Rome and I were planning on driving to Roderigo's sometime soon, so I'll just ask her to come along. She could see a ride she likes, then and..._

"Los maderos!"A high-pitched female voice tore Brian out of his thoughts. He reacted at once: he ran in a breakneck speed to where he had parked his Evo about fifteen yards away from Marco's car, who had already started the engine. As Brian got into his car, another man almost crashed into him, yet, he still managed to get the corner in time. Everywhere around were people getting into their cars, revving engines and the loud screetches of tyres on the asphalt. Actually, one would suppose the entire situation too be completely chaotic, nevertheless, most here at the races had already experienced such an incident more than once, so they knew that it would be of no use to go frantic. What counted now, was speed, a clear head and a little amount of luck to escape.

In the distance, Brian could hear how the sirens became louder, so he started his engine and followed the majority of the cars down the road. Driving together with everybody else had certain advantages: together, it was not very easy for the cops to concentrate on just one car, so they would be forced to choose one car out of ten or even more for firing their ESD. The choosing would take it's time. As a group, it was also easier to drive through barriers. The people in the front would take care of those. However, what was most important was the correct feeling for the time, when it would be best to leave the group to get away.

In his mirror, the blonde man could see that Roman was behind him and Suki was ahead of him, just like Diego, who used the next opportunity to turn right. Brian had already decided that he would take the next street to his left, try to get down town and then, once he would be sure that nobody followed him, he would drive home.

Somehow, he felt stupid for having come tonight, when he should have known that the police would show up. Naturally, after the accidents, they had enlarged the number of patrols.

When Brian had turned left, he noticed that Roman was still behind him. Apparently, his friend had not yet seen enough of Miami to know where to drive when trying to hide.

"Oh fuck!"He cursed as he focused back on the street. There were three patrol cars coming towards him! Obviously, they had intended to follow the group to cut off their way back.

"Just great",Brian said through gritted teeth the moment he saw one of the cops aiming his gun through the window at him. Immediately, he began driving in zig zags to make a proper aim more difficult, yet, he did not lower his speed. If he had to drive through them, he was ready to do it and the driver of the car that was coming closer right in front of him seemed to understand this. As the distance between them had closed down to about thirty yards, the woman literally fought the steering wheel around. Subsequently, the car turned several times onto the sidewalk, thus Brian's way was now free or him to escape. The only thing he would have to take care of now was the one car following him and Rome but together, they would not have any problems getting rid of it. The car in which the cop who had wanted to shoot Brian had sat – an attempt that had added several holes into the front bumper and the fenders of the Evo – had continued its way to follow the other drivers.

The blonde knew where he tried to get; near down town, there was an old parking garage that had once belonged to a private company, but as the company had moved into another building, they had no longer needed the garage, so it was now generally used by people who did not know where else to park their cars. Of course, it was not legal to do this, nevertheless, as long as the owners had not sold it, there had never been a complaint.

"What shall I do, so that you leave me alone?"He mumbled to himself while looking into his mirror. The police car was slower than his Evo and Roman's Eclipse, still, he would have to think of something. For now, he merely kept on driving straight ahead as long as the street would allow it, a distance between himself and the other car would at least be helpful later on, when he had to take corners to escape.

"Today's my lucky day, right?"He grinned. In front of him was a crossroads. It was not as busy as it would have been during daytime, but it might fit his needs perfectly. Without taking his foot from the gas, he navigated his Evo directly through the stream of cars. Behind him, he heard Roman's tyres screech when his friend had gotten hit by another car in the rear. Nonetheless, the other man's Eclipse still functioned and he followed Brian. The police was not as lucky as they had been, though. They crashed head-on into another car.

Brian whooped, yet, they had to arrive at the parking garage. He did not dare driving over ten miles home when the place, where they could hide so much better, was only two miles away. With Roman close behind him, he entered down town and remembered the way they would have to take. About ten minutes later, both had parked their cars, locked them up and left the parking garage. On their way, they had noticed several cars in there, which also belonged to racers.

"So, man, what we gonna do, now? Wanna party?"Roman laughed raspily at his friend, feeling as a winner.

"No, bro, I'ma go home, I'm done for tonight",he replied as they entered one of the rather busy streets during nighttime, "the best thing you can do after such shit, is to go home and catch some sleep."

"You serious?"A frown settled on Roman's forehead.

"Yeah, man",Brian shrugged, "I'll go home and come back tomorrow to get my ride. I'm sure as fucking hell not gonna use it for the rest of the night. And I don't want Lilly to be all alone at home."

"It was your idea to ground her, man, only yours",Roman looked at him accusingly, "so you really wanna go? Fine, then, I'm with ya, makes the taxi cheaper, ya know?"

"I thought you had more than me",the blonde said slily, however, he stopped as he saw a taxi coming their way and called it over.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Careful to be silent, Brian opened the door and stepped into their apartment. He then closed the door and locked it. It was already 1:23 in the morning, so he supposed that his younger sister was asleep. Before walking into the bathroom, he laid his keys on the sideboard in the hall and took off his shoes right next to it. The light made him rub his eyes for a moment until they were used to it. The man began to brush his teeth while reflecting on what had happened earlier this night. The cops, the races, but most of all, he remembered the crew talking about Shane.

_Perhaps_, Brian thought as he spat out_, I should have a little talk with him, if I see him today, only to clear things, to tell him that I'm going to break some of his bones, if he ever dares talking to Lilly like that again. I wouldn't really thread him, just...warn him, yeah, that's it. I'm going to warn him. Now, that he thinks that he's a man only because he's got a car and an airhead, he'll have to learn how to play ball like a man._

As Brian continued imagining the meeting with the boy in mind, he failed to hear the phone ringing.

Lilly groaned as the sound of electrical bells rang through to her. She tried to snuggle deeper into her pillow, but it would not work. Before she even knew what was happening, she was awake and glaring at her alarm clock, showing that it was 1: 27 a.m..

Cursing under her breath, the girl untangled herself from her comfortable bed, ready to yell at whoever had dared waking her up at this time. She had already opened her door, when she saw Brian picking up the receiver.

"Yeah?"He said calmly. "What?...This can only happen to you...yeah, I'm making fun of you, bro...yeah, 's alright, come up, then, but be quiet, okay?" He pressed a button, opening the door to the person standing downstairs.

"Was that Rome?"Her voice still thick with sleep, Lilly rubbed her eyes slowly. Her older brother seemed startled as he turned around, yet, the look at once changed into a mixture of warmth and amusement.

"Sorry that he woke you up", Brian held up his tooth brush, "I was just brushing my teeth and I didn't hear it. He forgot the keys for the boat in his car, so he can't get in, now."

"Why would Rome forget his keys in his car?"Somehow, Lilly had the feeling that her brain did not work the way it should.

"Well, the cops paid us a visit. We've parked in that old garage near down town and there, Rome left his keys",the blonde man explained while regarding his little sister. She was wearing an over-sized red shirt that went down to her upper thighs. Somehow, it made her seem like a little girl again, although this was only Brian's imagination.

"That's why I always tell you to have it all on one keyring",she told him tiredly, "that way, you canna",Lilly yawned, "forget anything. And tell him that he better be silent, I'ma go back to sleep."

"Good night, baby",Brian quickly wiped the remains of tooth paste from his lips, then, he gave his sibling a kiss on the cheek.

"Night, bro",the girl answered while going back into her room as she heard Roman knocking and coming inside.

Lilly went to bed, listened to parts of the conversation between the two men and when everything was silent again, she closed her eyes. She had used the time alone in the apartment for a proper work-out in the living-room for about two hours, thus, the blonde was rather tired and falling asleep again was no problem for her.

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Thanks for reading!

Please review!

Djaly


	10. Wanted: Time

Here I go again!

A new chapter. Yes! Actually, I should be reading several books for school, but I ain't animated to do that, so I'll either work on the story, watch videos or DVDs, read other books I like, listen to some music...the weather right now is shit, so any outside activity is not really entertaining. I watched 'The Island'. It's really good, after you have finished reading this chapter and reviewed, you should get that film.

Special thanks goes to:

**stardina**: Everything's explained in the next chapters!

**Marie Crosby**: You don't like to negotiate for a long time, do you?

**RiNgLeS**: Well, this one's a little longer, so take your time reading it.

**Chunt69**: Here I am!

I named this chapter 'Wanted: Time' because 'time' is a key word in every passage. So, read carefully and you may find out why!

Have fun reading, 'kay?

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**Wanted: Time**

Lilly breathed in deeply as she looked up from the shortboard she was waxing. It was several minutes to six o'clock in the morning, the sun had just begun to rise and coloured the dark water of the Altantic Ocean into a shade of blues, gold and orange. An offshore wind made the waves rolling in well formed and break cleanly on the sandy seabed. Several surfers were already out in the waters, catching wave after wave. The teenager even spotted a boy amongst them, who could not be older than thirteen.

Surfing early in the morning was a perfect way to start the day, at least for the blonde. It relaxed her, yet, she also considered surfing a good exercise before she would have to go to work at Tej's Garage. It was Monday, thus, Lilly would have to appear at the garage at quarter to eight. Normally, Tej did not open up before ten o'clock, however, the car fair had caused many people to order the crew's abilities to make their cars better in every possible way: new interiors, new electronics, new body kits, new rims and tires, but, what seemed worse to Lilly, was that most demanded a new paint-job, therefore, today, she had her first meeting with a customer at eight o'clock to get to know him and his wishes and to show him her designs.

_And if he doesn't like any of them_, Lilly focused back on the deck of the surfboard, _I'll have to come up with something entirely new. Well, I can only pray that he's already got something in mind and doesn't go all 'Oh, I don't know, why don't you just develop some ideas for me?' I hate it, when customers are like that, expecting me to think of a design when I know them for five minutes. With the new one I drew for Suki, hell, I can tell that she's gonna love it, but that's only because she's a friend of mine, not some stranger. What really sucks most about my job is people who are indecisive! Oh, well, I can still pout later on, now, I'ma go catch some tubes!_

Lilly had already woken up at 4:52 a.m. and she had not been able to fall asleep again afterwards, so, she had decided to go surfing. In the morning, the beaches in Miami were not yet as crowded with people as they were during noon and the afternoon and all the wanna-be and show-off surfers rarely came to this inlet. The blonde herself would have never found out about it, if someone had not told her where it was: Max. Maximilian Peter Firth.

Max danced at the only other _real_ dance studio in Miami, "Rhythm", so, as a friend of Mouse', Lilly had met him several months ago at Phoenix. They had battled against each other over the bill for their drinks, a common sort of _fun battling_, because the bills were not that high for anybody to really lose money. The 18-year-old had the same calm appearance as Mouse, however, to him, Lilly's connection was different. With Mouse, the need to talk vanished due to the other one guessing what one was thinking; with Max, it was strangely enough pretty much the same, but, on the contrary to Julian, Lilly did not consider Max her brother. Between them, there was something else. They would talk like Mouse and the blonde did, still, it would be different. There would be smiles and mischieviously gleaming eyes, quick appreciating looks and hidden compliments, teasing and approving.

"Hello",a raspy voice with a light Scottish accent said and made Lilly smile.

_Thinking of the devil_, she told herself, then, she turned her head to the left where Max had just laid down his surfboard.

_A new one_, Lilly recognized as the young man began to wax its deck.

"Hey",she replied, "nice Thruster."

"Thanks",he grinned, "the credits go to my grand-parents, though. They visited and gave it to me for having graduated."

"How's it riding?"While letting her eyes sweep over the Santa Cruz Surfboard, the girl caught a glimpse of Max' strong hands working over the deck, and his toned arms. His smooth skin glistened golden in the light of the rising sun.

"Dunno, still a virgin",he ran a hand through his straight dyed hair. It was actually a coal black, however, when Lilly had first met him, it had been platinum blonde, now, it was a black gleaming blue as the light hit it. It matched his sparkling light green eyes which were normally hidden behind a set of sunglasses, but in the early morning, the time when dawn did not provide enough light, the man did not wear them. "I didn't have much time during the last weeks with graduation and parties 'n all a that",he eyed her, "haven't seen much of you lately. Heard of the shit that happened, though. So, you cool?"

"Yeah, 's fine",the girl nodded reassuringly, "got my hand injured and doctor said, it shouldn't get wet, so no waves and my bro was hovering all over me, afterwards, so I didn't get away that much. As for now, I'm actually grounded."

"Grounded?"His irises gleamed and a wicked grin crossed over his face. "But only as long as your bro's around, righ'?"

"That's one way of putting it",she returned the grin, "it's not like I deserve it, anyways."

This comment merely gained a raised eyebrow.

"Ready, then?"He asked and stood up from the sandy ground, yet, he bent down once again to close the leash around his right ankle, as did Lilly.

"I was already done before you came over",the teenager rolled her eyes.

"You waited for me, then?"Max' voice held a tease in it, however, Lilly decided against commenting on it when they picked up their boards and walked towards the water.

"How much time do you've got, today?"He obviously asked her to distract himself from the cold water. Even though Max wore ¾ board shorts and a t-shirt, in the morning, it would always take him some time to get used to the temperature of the sea due to the water not yet being heated up by the sun. From out of the corner of his eye, he regarded the girl next to him, as a wave passed them that had been high enough to brush their hips. Lilly wore short black boardshorts with white accents, also known as _hot board pants_ among the male surfers, and a matching short-sleeved rashguard. Her hair was tucked away neatly underneath a white head scarf. Max knew from experience that, under the clothes, the blonde was probably wearing a bikini.

"I gotta be at work at quarter to eight",she told him while lowering her board onto the water, "and I rented the board for an hour, so I'll have to return it at",looking at her watch, which she hardly used, the girl scowled, "6:45, this means, I got about fourty-five minutes."

"I got a breakfast at 8:30, today",he sighed, "Country Club, so, I gotta be all cheerful and polite to those damn snobs! My mom hates Da' for having joined, only because he loves to play golf. I bet she fakes something to make us go without her, but if Mom doesn't go, I don't have no ally, there. I really wanned to have some time riding this board, but I'll have to keep that in mind for later."

"Let's enjoy some peace, then, even if it's only for half an hour",Lilly suggested and both of them laid down on their boards before beginning to paddle away from the beach.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"No, Andy, it's really no problem at all",Lilly turned around in the office chair while talking into the receiver she held in her hand, "tomorrow, then?...Lemme see",the girl looked at her agenda for the next day, "there's still some space left for you...how about four o'clock?...no, the entire morning is all business...wait...",she checked another page, "yeah, Wednesday I got someone at nine and the next one at twelve, so how about 10:30?...okay, then",she took a pen from the desk she was momentarily sitting at and wrote down _10:30 – Andy (tattoo on arm on hood)_, "so, I'll see ya on Wednesday, bye."

Lilly hung up the phone and looked at the time her monitor showed. It was 11:43 a.m.. After having surfed, she had returned the rented surfboard, then, toweled herself as dry as possible before having changed from her board clothes into jeans and a very thin pullover to get warm fast. Of course, she had used the car Tej had given her the keys to. Back at home, both Brian and Roman had still been asleep, nonetheless, Lilly had showered and blow-dried her hair before changing again into clothes she could wear for work.

So far, the blonde had met four customers to discuss a new paint-job for their cars. Luckily, three of them had already found a design they liked in the girl's collection and the fourth one had at least an idea of what he wanted. Apparently, last night, he had seen the movie 2Fast 2Furious, thus, he know wanted his car to have the exact same paint-job as one of the cars in the movie, only with different colours, therefore, Lilly had spent the last twenty minutes searching for pictures of this car in the internet. Now that she had saved them on her computer, she merely needed to sketch them by hand, scan them in again and add the colours which had been demanded. The guy had asked for another appointment on Thursday, subsequently, Lilly did not think beginning at this time was necessary, particularly not when the next customer, who wanted to discuss a paint-job with her, arrived at 12:30 p.m..

_I may as well go help the guys_, she thought while getting up. This morning, the police had shown up right at the opening time...just like the three new co-workers Tej wanted to employ for the next weeks. As a matter of fact, the three young men had to get to know the different parts of the garage, thus, they were being shown around right now. Of course, the two officers had decided to join the round for them investigating the garage after the accidents.

"Hey",she smiled while coming closer to where Alex was standing next to a lift with a Ferrari on it, "need some help?"

"Hey, baby",the man grinned, "I'd like that, yeah. I's just about to change the wheels and tyres. Ya could help me carrying."

"Is this the one?"Lilly questioned, pointing her finger at the Ferrari.

"Yes, that's going to be the one with the million dollar rims, once we've put them on",Alex shook his head no, "straight show car, ya know? I may have a million dollar, but I would never invest that money into 250,000 for a wheel!"

"A wheel covered in Svarovski diamonds and Ferrari red rubies",she remembered having ordered the wheels and regarded them as a waste of money, "can I get the rims, then?"

"Diamonds are a girl's best friend, right?"Alex grinned before walking off to where they stored the tires. Lilly did the same, however, she took a different direction. The storage room for body parts such as rims was in the far back of Tej's Garage.

The moment the girl searched her keys in her bottom pocket to unlock the door, she heard voices coming from the inside, thus, she opened the door and stepped inside.

"...so that much about being careful, now, the most important, the lists",Lilly listened to Diego, who was obviously showing the guys and the officers the storage room, "it works like that: if you take something outta here, you gotta note that in the pc that's right next to the door",he pointed over to the door which Lilly had just closed behind her, "oh, hey Chica",the Spanish smiled and waved, "because if you don't", he continued, "she's the reason you'll never have any children."

"Very funny",Lilly rolled her eyes while walking over to the section with the rims.

"Who are you, Miss...?"One of the officers asked her as she searched for the right package containing the wheels.

"O'Conner",the girl replied, after having found the correct boxes, then she came over, shaking the men's hands, "Lilliana O'Conner, I'm actually the sprayer here at Tej's, but I also work on the bodies and on the cars in general when there's nothing to spray. And you are?"

Seemingly, the men were a little startled by her casuality.

"I'm Lieutnant Andrews",the man, who had to be in his fourties, said, "and this is Officer Clay",he pointed at the young black man by his side.

"And these",Diego made a motion with his hands towards the three new co-workers, "are Rubens, Terence and Isaac. Guys, Lilly. She's sixteen, so don't get any ideas."

"Yeah, or Diego's getting jealous",she teased while shaking hands with the guys. Judging by their looks and the feeling they gave her, she knew what she had to expect. Rubens could not be much older than her, he was perhaps nineteen or twenty and probably only working over the summer. He seemed to be of Cuban origin, his dark looks giving him away. He had black curly hair that hung down to his ears, his eyes were a dark brown and his skin seemed to have a natural tan shade. His figure was not really thin, yet, he was not all too muscular either. He was also under 6 feet tall, his physical appearance reminded Lilly somehow of Jimmy. Rubens smiled shily at her, so she guessed she would get along with him because he did not look like a macho, more like an average nice guy.

Terence was another matter, though. Lilly had felt him checking every square inch of her body ever since she had stepped into the room. He was about 6'2 or 6'3 and rather muscular. His light brown hair was cut only an inch short and his gray eyes were not able to focus on anything else but the girl's breasts as she shook his hand. His skin was tan, but Lilly could guess this was deriving from time spent either at the beach or in a tanning salon. She did not know, if this guy would be willing to accept a female working together with him or telling him what to do.

The last one in the line, Isaac, had an appearance equal to Terence. He was about the same height and physical build, yet, he hid his dark blonde hair under a black baseball hat. His eyes were a friendly sparkling dark blue and by taking in his clothes, a wide t-shirt and trunks, Lilly could not help but think that Isaac and Brian would probably get along great.

"So, here I go",she said while returning to the boxes and picking up only two instead of four. She would have to walk a second time for the other ones. Feeling that the men watched her as she carried the boxes over to the desk, the blonde squared her shoulders. On the desk was a computer. She typed in the number that was imprinted on one of the boxes and hit the key saying _Sold_. Immediately, the colour of the window changed from light blue into a light orange, the line _Sold Sold Sold_ blinking above.

"Is this them?"Diego asked, indicating the boxes.

"Yeah, it's them, two of four 250 G rims, covered in diamonds and rubies",she answered.

"So, gentlemen",Diego spoke to the group of men around him, "this is why only the members of the crew get keys to the storage rooms. If you let the fucking door open and something's gone, so if we canna find it in the lists, you gotta pay. A million dollar only for a set of rims. Remember that."

Lilly picked up the boxes again and left, knowing that later on, she would have to annoy Diego about being forced into becoming a nanny.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Yo, whaddup?"Jimmy asked Diego when the other man bent down next to him, acting as though he wanted to help fixing a part of the engine, however, behind the opened hood, he knew that their talk would stay unnoticed.

"I just handed them over Marco to show'em the machines",Diego answered, his voice low, "cops are gonna leave after they did the questioning. Then, we should get the babies to do some work together with us."

"First impression?"Jimmy wiped some grease off his hands with a cloth. Before Diego, he had show the new employees around and he like to talk about where they would let who work.

"Till now, I canna really tell",the Spanish shook his head lightly no, "we just gotta give'em some time to work with us, dawg. That Rubens said he was good with electronics 'n shit, so I'd say you're stuck with him. Isaac seems to be more into exterior. Wheels, tyres, bodies, also lights, still, he also mentioned that he could also work seats, if he had to. That guy won't be a problem."

"But that Terence, maybe",Jimmy finished for him, "said he could do everything. Inside and outside, but that he was more into outside. He was going on that he would like to work on paint, ya know? Still, I don't want him anywhere near Chica, got me?"

"Same here, bro",Diego bit his lower lip, "I don't trust that jock with authority, especially not when a girl's got it. For today, I'd like him to work with Marco, alrigh'? See how he's with former bouncers."

"Good idea, but I heard Chica talking about her jobs, this morning",the young man sighed, "only today, she got three new orders, one wants to come back in a coupla days, but that one's gonna stay, for sure, too. Up to now, she's already fixed four that were scratched on Saturday and Sunday. She's got lotsa work right now, and that Terence is sure as hell gonna notice."

"And offer his fucking helping hand",Diego looked at the polished engine in front of him, "Chica's not gonna like him in her quarters, not at all. Nonetheless, she may give him a chance. I hope he won't jeopardize it."

"So, Rubens with me, Isaac with Chica and Terence with Marco",Jimmy concluded, shutting the hood and ending the conversation.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

_Finally_, the blonde teenager took a deep breath. The police had just ended their interrogation and a feeling of relief came over her, as she watched the two men get into their car and drive off. Lilly looked at her watch, showing 1:23 p.m.. She had been the last one to be asked questions, what had not really been as horrible as she had imagined it to be, due to her having met with a customer at half past twelve. Fortunately, this one had also found a design he liked.

_So, this means, I gotta spray four today, but two of them also ordered new body kits. Maybe the guys have already done those? I hope so. Ballet starts at four, I'ma leave at half past three, then and I'll be back at quarter past five, half past five. Seems like I'll have to skip lunch today, if I wanna be done before we close down. I would so need more time! Okay, I'll just grab a Pepsi to load my batteries and then, off to work, girl!_

Lilly lifted up the copies of the designs and the demanded body parts from her desk, crossed the room to get a Pepsi from the fridge and left once she held the wanted item in her hands.

The car, on which she was planning to work on first, stood already close to the large dual winged door leading into the spray room. The girl checked the list in her right hand.

"Okay",she mumbled to herself, "I need a Ground Dynamics front and rear bumper, side skirts and a spoiler. Well, we got all of that stored. I'll just get the tools to remove the old parts, first."

She laid down the papers in her hands as well as the Pepsi on the floor next to the car. Afterwards, Lilly began to search through the toolboxes they kept at an empty wall near the storage room for body parts.

"Hey, baby",Alex rose from his squatted position adjacent to a rim he had been polishing. When he walked towards her, the girl noticed that one of the new guys, Isaac, was with him, "I wondered, if you needed some help. I can't have Isaac polishing wheels the entire day, right?"

"You good with body kits?"Lilly asked the young man standing in front of her.

"Yeah",he grinned at her, naturally content with the fact that he no longer had to polish cars.

"Then, I got some work for you",she returned the grin.

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At 3:14 p.m., Lilly pushed the car she had finished spraying out of her quarters. Unfortunately, she had, until now, only gotten two cars done and she would need to leave soon for her ballet class. Changing the body kit from the first car had not been all too difficult and with the help of Isaac, who had worked rather quick and skilful, they had gotten it done even before two o'clock.

After having observed Isaac while working on the first car, she had not seen any problems with him working alone on the body of the other vehicle she would still have to paint. As she stepped out into the bright sunlight, the blonde squinted her eyes lightly.

"Hey",Isaac came over to her to help her pushing, "I already finished the other and wrapped it up for spraying."

"Thanks, man, really, thanks",she smiled at him, honestly grateful for his attempts to make her work easier, "I'ma push it in, then",she told him once they had parked the newly painted car on an empty spot.

"Okay",without second thought, the young man went over to the next car and began rolling it into the direction of the still opened dual winged door.

"You're crazy",she shook her head no as she joined him, "you really don't have to do this, ya know?"

"But I gotta work",he grinned, "and working with you is nice."

"Alex ain't your type?"

"Cleaning cars ain't my type",he laughed.

"Okay, stop",Lilly said the time the car stood exactly the way she needed it, "seems like we're done. For how long do you stay, today?"

"Till you guys close, I guess, and that would be at six or no",he shook his head, "Diego said we still gotta clean up, after work, so I'll stay as long as that lasts. How about you?"

"Well, I gotta stay longer than that, I fear",she told rather herself than him while they left the room and Lilly closed the door fromt he outside.

"Why's that? There are only two cars left",Isaac sounded irritated.

"I have to leave at 3:30 to run some errands, you know? Some people don't have the time to come here to get their cars done, so I gotta find some time to come to them",somehow, Lilly did not like lying to him, but her _running errands_ was the official version for her attending to her ballet course. Even Brian believed it. Thus, Lilly left every Monday for about two hours in the afternoon and every Thursday for about three hours.

"Oh",the man's face was covered in realization, "so that's why the guys said we wouldn't have to ask you, what you want for lunch."

"Yup, I'll have to skip, but it's alright",she shrugged, "I'll just eat later. Now, you should go get a drink from the fridge in the office and ask Jimmy or any of the others for something to do, okay?"

"Okay",he answered before walking into the working area of the garage, whereas Lilly strolled to the '98 Eclipse. She had parked it back at Tej's after having returned from surfing. As the blonde got it, she checked that her bag containing her dance gear was still lying on the passenger's seat, then, she shut the door, fastened her seatbelt and drove to 'The Club'.

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"So, y'are saying that we gotta hide ya from that chit, if she shows up",Sugar repeated as they warmed up in the hall next to the room in which their course would begin.

"I'm dead, if she finds out",Lilly replied while continuing to thrust her pelvis up and down. On Mondays, they merely danced for one hour, thus, Jennifer demanded that they were already warmed up when the class started. Fortunately, in the hall where the only room for all the ballet courses was, the owners of 'The Club' had built up a barre at one of the walls, so a proper warm up and stretching were possible. Lilly, Sugar and Marisa had already chosen a place far away from the door leading into the room and in the opposite direction to the stairs, knowing that Suki would go that way to get to the changing rooms.

"Don't worry, puppy",Marisa told her while running on one spot to warm up her legs, "she won't see you. The hall is full of people and we're at its end."

"_Still_",the blonde was now doing quick sit-ups, "how late is it, anyway?"

"Six minutes left",Sugar answered, rolling her shoulders back in circles as she started to do leg-curls.

Lilly had already worked her legs and shoulders. She had run the stairs up and down several times and then continued with some aerobic steps the same way her friends were doing it now. The girl got up from the floor and used the barre at her side for stretching. All over the hall were dancers preparing for class, on the floor laid various pairs of toe shoes.

_I wonder how Suki did during her first lesson_, Lilly thought, _either, she's still at Tej's when I come back and I'll hear it from herself, or she's already left and the guys may tell me, or I'll hear it all tomorrow. I hope she leaves right away after her course is over. I hope that Jennifer doesn't allow them to watch us! That would be very cruel...for me! I just know that Suki wouldn't keep her mouth shut, even if I begged her on my knees. Perhaps, she'll be all into annoying us for the next coupla days with learning the basic positions at the garage. Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq...well, Jennifer is a great teacher, everything Suki needs is the will to accept criticism and to work herself very hard. That's all it takes...and time, of course, time and feeling. Yeah, feeling is the most important. If you don't feel the music, you can't really dance to it, then, you can forget about it! But one can learn to feel the music, I guess. _

Suddenly, Lilly's thoughts were interrupted by a door opening and loud chatter filling the hall. The beginners were leaving the room, saying goodbye to Jennifer and hurrying down the stairs. Lilly spotted Suki among them, yet, the Asian was too occupied talking to another student that she did not pay any attention to her surroundings.

"Ladies!"Jennifer clapped her hands twice to make the women in the hall listen. "I will have my coffee, now, and you will be ready, when I return",with the sentence spoken out loud, although it was not necessary because Jennifer drank a coffee each Monday after the beginners were done, the teacher descended the stairs to drink a coffee in the teacher's lounge. The women in the hall hurried into the large room, which had two walls consisting of mirrors. In the centre of the room, a barre on rolls, that had obviously been used by the other class, had still not been put aside, so Lilly helped another girl in her course to push it out of the way, while the others already tied the ribbons of their pointe shoes around their ankles.

Lilly went over to Marisa and Sugar, next to her towel and her water bottle, she had laid her shoes. Before slipping into them, though, the girl eyed them suspiciously.

"They ain't gonna last much longer",Sugar commented, "neither are mine. The box has gotten too soft."

"The ones I use for Sunday are still great",Lilly took two thin squares of white linen cloth out of the pockets of her black ¾ cargo pants. There were several brown stripes on them, the colour of dried blood. She wrapped one cloth around the toes of her right foot – the blonde had already taped her toes at the places where she knew she would receive blisters, if she did not – and slipped into her light gray satin shoe. She had to lift her black leg warmer a little to be able to tie the ribbons properly together. Then, she repeated the action with her left foot.

"I do need new ones",she stated after having gotten to her feet, "but I ain't got no time for getting them."

"You only work till four on Saturdays, puppy",Marisa reminded her, "Pesos is opened till six, so we could there after work."

"You would go there with me?"Big blue eyes underlined a plea as they lined up at the barre.

"Of course, puppy",Risa smiled, "I need some new ones, too, for the class on Sunday. The ones I got last months just make my toes curl. I wonder why I didn't notice in the shop."

"Thanks, Mommy",Lilly grinned while looking at her reflection in the mirror to see whether her posture was correct during the Grand Plié. At the beginning of the lesson, Lilly was wearing black leg warmers, ¾ long black cargo pants and a dark blue spaghetti straps top over which she wore the thin white pullover from this morning. Once she would be warm, she would take off the pullover and the leg warmers. Her hair was twisted up neatly into a little ball at the back of her head.

Eventually, Jennifer returned from her break and they started.

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"Beat?"Diego questioned when Lilly joined him at one of the white tables where he read the paper.

Instead of replying, though, the girl merely let herself fall into a chair, acting overly exhausted and moaning out loud.

"I'll take that as a yes",the man chuckled.

"Is Brian around?"Lilly cracked one eye open at him. She had not seen her older sibling the entire day, but she did not think it was possible that he had not been at Tej's.

"Yeah, he's in the back",he turned the page over, "talked about wanting to go to the movies with you, so be warned."

"Movies?"She rolled the word on her tongue. "But I'm grounded. Oh great, he's changing the rules again. Yeah, let's confuse me even more. I ain't gonna go today with him, then. I just wanna sleep",she looked at him, "you guys already done with cleaning and prep-talk for tomorrow?"

"Chica, it's almost seven",Diego shook his head no, "do you honestly expect us to tear you outta your room, when we know exactly that you're still working in there? That we would knowingly force you to discuss shit with us, if this meant you doing overtime?" His facial expression and voice changed into an act of hurt and sadness. "Don't you know how much we love you? How can you think such thing of us? What have we done to you!"

"So, you're all done?"

"_We_ are all done, Chica, _we_, as in the entire crew",he eyed her sternly, "don't you think we didn't know that you already started at eight and not, like us lazy asses, at ten? So, don't you go like making up for having missed the cleaning."

"Where are the babies?"She asked, looking around for any of the new guys.

"In the back, having a drink like everybody else. Except for Alex, he's off home",Diego took a sip of the bottle of Salitos standing on the table in front of him.

"And you enjoy the silence with your paper and your beer?"

"Yup."

"With nobody around but me?"

"Yup."

"Nobody disturbing?"

"Yup."

"Wanna make out?"

"Yu..._Chica!_"Diego yelled out the moment he realized what she had asked him. Of course, Lilly was squealing in delight and laughing loudly, especially when the man joined in.

"You're insane",he coughed, "go annoy the others and leave me alone."

"Okay",Lilly stood up from her chair and entered the area of the yard, leaving a head shaking man behind.

The back yard was still crowded, but, somehow, the blonde managed to find a way through the people passing by, so that she reached the crew sitting on chairs and loungers. Brian and Roman were also there, talking about Roman's new apartment.

"Hey",she greeted them, the exact same moment that she felt her older brother sneaking his arms around her waist and pulling her onto his lap, however, Lilly did not mind that her brother was apparently in the mood for cuddling. She was tired and beat, so cuddling seemed nice.

"Hey, baby",he kissed her right temple, the one that was turned towards him. Actually, Lilly never really sat _on _his lap, but Brian would always spread his legs a little until she fitted in between. It was the perfect position to snuggle under his chin or into his chest.

"Hey, Kitten",Roman nudged her calf lightly as she usually swung them over one of Brian's upper thighs, "y'all done?"

"Done, beat and tired",now that Lilly was resting her head against her brother's chest, breathing in the scent of his shirt, she truly began to feel like falling asleep the next moment, therefore, her voice held more sleep in it than she had intended to. She cracked a smile, "Could be the consequence of me not having gotten enough sleep because _somebody_ forgot his..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that story",Rome cut her off quickly, the group around them laughing, though. "But I's lucky to have stayed at yours, cos I happened to be around when you guys' neighbour showed up",he squared his shoulders mockingly and grinned proudly, "I rented that rooms for some time."

"You're gonna be our neighbour?"Lilly sounded shocked before tugging fast at Brian's shirt. "Didn't you say you wanna move outta there for something bigger?"

"Don't worry, baby",the blonde tightened his grip gently around the girl, "I won't let him eat you."

"Well, then",she cuddled back against him and closed her eyes, "but no parties, no girls, no leaving or staying out late without asking and no _loud activities_."

"You think we can get him to do all of that?"Brian grinned into her hair.

"Nah, but we can still annoy the hell outta him by trying",she grinned as well.

"Thank you _very much_",Roman folded his arms in front of his chest, feeling offensed, "don't worry, I won't even go bothering you people helping me move in."

"Like you would get it done on your own!"Brian teased his friend.

"Ey, Chica",Tej spoke up before the two men would begin to argue, "I need da keys for da Eclipse, girl."

"Why's that?"Lilly craned her neck to look at him. He had given her the car for the times when she was in need of one, so why would he want to have it back, now? She had never gotten a scratch to it, she had always filled up the tank and even washed and polished the car. He had no reason to want it back, had he?

"While yar spraying, someone took it for a spin an' he liked it",Tej's eyes told her that he did not want to take the car away from her, but that it was his business and both of them had known from the beginning that he had always intended to sell the car, "he comes tomorrow to get it, so I need da keys. Ya'll get another for yar errands in time, sure."

"Okay",the girl responded tiredly and searched for her keyring in her pockets. She held it in one hand while, with the other, she took the key of the Mitsubishi from it, then, she threw it over to Tej, "here."

_This means no more surfing or going clubbing, if I don't get picked up. Great! Just great_, in a way, the energy she had to bring up to be mad on the inside and calm on the outside made her even more fatigue and eventually, she yawned.

"Wanna go home?"Her brother looked at her, a slight smile parting his lips.

"Yep",the blonde replied while getting out of his lap, "Tej?"She addressed the man sitting opposite to her. "I've got someone coming at 8:30 tomorrow, so I'ma open up, then, okay?"

"Whoa, Chica, slow down",he frowned, "y'already showed up at eight, today, what's gotten into ya?"

"I just wanna get the people done in the morning, so that I can spray the cars in the afternoon",Lilly shrugged, "or ain't ya gonna pay me doing overtime?"

"Nah, I'ma get something real neat for ya, ai? So, y'ain't coming tonite? We miss ya, Chica, ya gotta be back, soon",he told her with a raised index finger.

"Don't tell me, man, tell him", she pointed at Brian standing behind her.

"Ah already did that, girl", he flashed her a content grin, "see ya, tomorrow, then. I'ma here early, too."

"That's a first",Lilly rolled her eyes before walking away, "bye, guys."

Brian also said goodbye or rather a _see ya, tonight_ when Marco and Isaac came with them, stating they wanted to leave as well.

"Ciao",Marco quickly went to his car and drove off.

"So",Brian looked challengingly at Isaac, "you're on, tonight?"

"Nah, man",Isaac scratched the back of his head, "I mean...perhaps, I dunno. I'll come 'round, though, to meet some people. The guys said that would be good."

"Where's your ride? I haven't seen it, yet",Lilly noticed as they walked over the parking space. The girl wondered what sort of car Isaac owned.

"It's over there",he pointed into a direction, "the Skyline."

"May I say that this paint-job is...",the teenager shook her head in disbelief while regarding the Nissan Skyline. The entire outward appearance of the car was perfect: the body kit was one of the latest, just like the tyres and rims, but the paint-job was terrible, in Lilly's opinion. The base coat seemed to be a silver metallic, on top of that was a coat of straw yellow Kandy and the light green racing stripes on the hood and the sides did not convince the girl that Isaac truly liked his car.

"Yeah, it sucks",he said for her, "but I got neither the money nor the time to get it done. I'll just have to wait before I...oh, wait a sec",the man reached into the front pocket of his trunks as the sound of a cell phone vibrating had interrupted him. He held the mobile to his ear and answered it. "Hello?...No, I'm still at work, was just leaving...yes, I'm as good as there, alright?...I'll see you, then...bye",he hung up and was about to put the phone back into his pocket, when Lilly demanded to see it. Isaac gave it to her, wondering why she wanted to have a look at it.

"It was my brother",he told them, "we wanted to go eat somewhere together and I'm kinda late, so could you...?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry",Lilly handed the cell phone back to him, "I could spray that on your car, if you want me to."Naturally, she referred to the design on Isaac's mobile phone shell.

"No, I mean, it ain't my phone, ya know? I got it from an ex-colleague,"he eyed first her and then the back of his phone. He could not imagine that the girl was able to transfer the head of the white wolf onto his hood.

"Well, if you'd like an animal to be on your car, I'll just search for some pics in the internet and draw some sketches for you to get an idea of what it could look like",she shrugged, "or would you like something else? I got lotsa designs, so..."

"No, no, the wolf's fine. I always liked it, that's why I got it",Isaac replied while running his thumb over the crack in the back of his phone, tracing the line down from the upper left corner down to the left eye of the wolf, "sounds cool. I'll tell you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, till then",she smiled at him and walked off.

"See ya",Brian called over before laying his arm around his sister's waist as they both crossed the street.

Isaac looked after them for a little while, then, he got into his car and the second he had left Tej's Garage behind him, he took out his phone again, dialing a number.

"_Yes, boss, it's me_",he said in Spanish, "_I just left the garage...well, I wasn't alone, there were some people with me...the girl and her brother...yes, I talked to them...no, not about Verone, Sir, I thought, it wouldn't be wise to mention this without any of them having told me that it happened...yes, seems like I'm in...no, Sir, I didn't manage to give her the second package, there were too many people around to notice...yes, the police was there...no, I haven't heard Parker talking about it...I guess they still think it was just an accident, but I'm not sure...well, they asked me to come to their races, this night, so I will be able to get some more information...yes, boss, of course, I will be careful not to be seen with our mechanics...even if it's in the middle of the night?...do you still want me to come over?...alright, after the races, then...no, she won't be there, her brother grounded her...yes, I will deliver the second package, then, after I saw him leave, understood...no, Sir, I won't make the same mistake Leo made...yes, boss, goodbye._"He pushed a key to end the connection and smug smile parted his lips.

"I can definitely see why Verone wanted that girl, still, I doubt that she will refuse Señor García once she has met him, what should be some time soon."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"So, you're really tired, hm?"Brian laid his head on top of his sister's when she leant it against his shoulder. Actually, he had wanted to go to the movies with her, but now he feared that she might fall asleep in her seat, then.

_I'll just have to ask her tomorrow_, he thought, _she's too down for this, tonight. She'll most probably go to bed once we're upstairs. Oh well, that way, I won't feel bad for leaving her alone again and she won't be around, when the guys and I continue picking a car for her. I'm glad Tej sold the Eclipse, today, Lilly will experience how useful it is to have a car and she might want an own one._

"Yeah",she sighed, "can I just get into the elevator, please? I dunno, if I'll make the stairs."

"You're _this_ tired? Oh, my poor baby",he kissed her hair, "what have you been doing all day?"

"Dunno, this and that",the girl watched her brother opening the door and stepped inside, "nothing really strenuous, just work, you know? I need either sleep or some caffeine."

"Sleep is healthier",he told her while closing the door. Lilly had already pushed the button for the elevator to come down and the doors opened immediately.

Brian pressed another button on the inner wall, the doors closed and they went up.

_Eating something would have been healthy_, Lilly was determined to keep this information to herself, knowing how Brian would react. As soon as he heard word of her not having eaten, he would think at once that either the bulimia or the anorexia was back. Lilly remembered that it had begun with bulimia, but she had felt so disgusted by vomiting that she had stopped eating, anorexia had settled in. Sometimes, the blonde still caught herself feeling bad after having eaten a meal with too many calories, fast food, for example, but she always did sports, especially, after such a meal, to burn the calories instead of throwing up.

"Rome wants to move in next week",the blonde man tried to end the silence surrounding them, "he thought that, maybe, you could help him with decorating 'n stuff. I mean, you're really good when it comes down to being creative and he's got a damn lack, there, concerning interior design."

"Yeah, sure",she rubbed her eyes, "I'll just have to safe some time for that. I doubt that I'll get a day off from work, so I'll do that in the evening, help him painting the walls 'nd so. 'S okay."

The lift reached the floor they lived on and they got out into the little clean hall. The gray linoleum squeaked under their sneakers.

_I also gotta get new street shoes_, Lilly looked down at her feet the moment Brian opened the door, _I already fixed the sole of these with super glue. But when? Perhaps on Saturday, together with the girls? I do so need some time to get a clear head. Shopping alone would do that. Just me wandering through the shops, have a look at this and that...that would be cool. But I said that I would go with them on Saturday, so...I'll have to force Tej into letting me out for some hours still this week. Friday sounds nice...I canna recall having any appointments that day...let's keep Friday in mind, then._

She followed her brother into the apartment, kicked off her shoes in the hall and merely walked into her room, to let herself fall onto her bed, clothes still on. The man only chuckled.

"You want me to wake you, when I leave?"He asked while taking off his shoes.

"Mmm",the girl's voice was muffled against the covers. Could he not see that she was trying to get some sleep!

"Alright, then",Brian closed her door before going into the kitchen in order to prepare something to eat for himself. When he roamed through the fridge, though, he was not thinking about food.

_She's been up on her legs for more than twelve hours, now_, the blonde sighed, but as he opened a box of Chinese take-out, his face changed into a disgusted grimace, _fuck, man! The last time we had some Chinese was, like, two weeks ago! So, this comes outta here_, he put the box on the table_, I remember that evening. Rome was here, I guess and we're all sitting together in the living-room. My baby teased him for not eating with chop sticks and I joined in...we went to the races afterwards, without Lilly, of course, it's not as if I could make her go there with me, somehow, lately. She needs to drive again. Maybe not exactly when there are these things happening, but in general. She hasn't even driven the Evo, yet! This ain't normal! When was the last time we pair-raced? That must have been over a month ago...I really need some time together with her, just the two of us, to figure out what's going on...I'll ask her about going to the movies tomorrow and after the film, we could go eat somewhere. We always did that in L.A.. At least once per month, we would go to the cinema, watch a movie and eat afterwards. I need to spend more time with her, especially right now, with the trial coming up, but she ain't got no time! Work's completely exhausting her! However, if I dare going to Tej to tell him how down she is, she'll be on my back. Just one day off, not more. We could go shopping or drive along the Ocean Drive...go down to the beach, whatever, I just wanna have some time together with her._

Brian looked into another box of take-out food. "What the hell was that once!"

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Thanks for reading!

Please review!

Djaly


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